Jurisdiction squabbles leave potholes intact

A major chunk of pothole repairs is yet to be done, but civic wards are busy squabbling over jurisdiction.

A major chunk of pothole repairs is yet to be done, but civic wards are busy squabbling over jurisdiction.

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Few roads near Girgaum Chowpatty — one of the major immersion points in city — run through wards C and D, leading to infighting over maintenance responsibilities. The road opposite VP Road police station, outside Wilson School, and the road that goes from Sikka Nagar to CP Tank, also lie neglected due to infighting.

"These roads lead to Girgaum Chowpatty and are used for visarjan. The BMC is still fighting over jurisdiction," said Naresh Dahibawkar, co-ordinator, Brihanmumbai Ganeshotsav Samanvay Samiti.

On Friday, around 3,000 Ganapati idols were immersed at Girgaum. HT visited some of the spots and found out that civic authorities hadn't even started filling potholes on these roads, even after the CM's directives that major roads used by mandals for reaching immersion points should be attended to on priority.

Chanda Jadhav, ward officer for C Ward, said that the road outside VP Road police station falls under the C and D wards. "But there is no dispute. We are all working to ensure that the roads are rid of potholes," Jadhav said. Parag Masurkar, ward officer for the D ward, could not be contacted. Additional municipal commissioner Aseem Gupta said that the BMC had the task of filling all potholes and there was no point fighting over a couple of roads.

A day after the CM's deadline to fill potholes lapsed, 164 of the 308 pothole locations are yet to be attended to. Of these, 53 locations are in the island city, 85 are in the western suburbs while 26 lie in the eastern suburbs.

At 13, Byculla has the most number of cratered locations. Malad has 45 potholed spots, more than any other western suburb, while the dubious distinction in the eastern suburbs goes to Vikhroli, which has 18 potholed locations.