Heavy showers wash away BMC’s road repair efforts

Heavy showers that are battering the city are washing away the slipshod road repair work as well as making it tough for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to fill all potholes by August 15, by which it is supposed to complete the work, in preparation for the Ganesh festival.

Heavy showers that are battering the city are washing away the slipshod road repair work as well as making it tough for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to fill all potholes by August 15, by which it is supposed to complete the work, in preparation for the Ganesh festival.

HT Image

The festival begins on September 1 this year.

On Sunday, the downpour affected road and rail traffic. Areas such as Dadar (east), Hindmata, Kurla, Andheri (west) and Sion got flooded, and across the city, 20 trees fell. At Antop Hill, five people were injured after a tree was uprooted and fell on their house.

With incessant rain over the past three days, the condition of roads has worsened, especially in Ghatkopar, Nana Chowk and Dadar (E). On the Western Expr-ess Highway, the Kalina and Gore-gaon flyovers are in bad shape.

The BMC had to abandon repair work it began at Pratiksha Nagar in Sion, Dharavi, Goregaon, and Malad because of rain on Sunday. “If the rain continues like this, we will not be able to meet the August 15 deadline,” said an official from the roads department.

Mayor Shraddha Jadhav had set the deadline and promised Mumbaiites that the city would be pothole-free before Ganeshotsav.

There are 40 pothole spots in the island city, 249 in the western suburbs and 39 in the eastern suburbs that are still unattended, show the BMC’s latest figures.