Fill potholes by June 20: BMC

The tall claims made by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that Mumbai is ready for the monsoon were washed out in the incessant rain, which lashed the city over the past few days.

The tall claims made by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) that Mumbai is ready for the monsoon were washed out in the incessant rain, which lashed the city over the past few days.

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With the onset of the monsoon, the blame game between the civic body and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Area (MMRDA) has also ensued. Embarrassed by heavy waterlogging in several low-lying areas in the city, which led to traffic snarls, mayor Shraddha Jadhav called a co-ordination meeting of officials of the planning authority, civic body, Mhada, traffic and the railways on Tuesday to review the situation.

It was decided that the planning authority will take responsibility of the roads around the Metro and monorail construction sites, fill bad patches and potholes. The civic body has asked the planning authority to complete work on this by June 20. “We have asked the MMRDA to make sure that the roads where they are constructing the Metro and monorail should be maintained by them. If they fail to do so by June 20, we will take action against them,” said mayor Jadhav.

Reacting to this, Ashwini Bhide, joint metropolitan commissioner of MMRDA, said: “As per the agreement, we are obliged to undertake repair work to maintain the road as well.”

The traffic department suggested that if the height of the road between Vile Parle and Goregaon is increased by 1.5 ft, water will not accumulate and traffic movement will be smooth when it rains. To curb waterlogging on the railway tracks, the BMC said they will earmark a few areas near the tracks, which will be cleared of garbage.