Mumbai: Come rain, BMC’s pothole claims go down the drain

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is quick to pass the buck. After blaming the waterlogging in Mumbai on heavy and incessant rain, the civic body is using the same excuse to explain the potholed roads.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is quick to pass the buck. After blaming the waterlogging in Mumbai on heavy and incessant rain, the civic body is using the same excuse to explain the potholed roads.

The rain has, yet again, revealed the shoddy work done by the BMC. In fact, there has been a 124% increase in the number of potholes reported on BMC’s website. On Thursday (June 25), the civic body had received 1,052 pothole complaints, whereas the number was 469 last year.

The civic body was also more prompt in filling up the potholes last year. While 610 of the reported potholes lie unattended this year, in 2014, 455 of the 469 were repaired within days.

According to the civic body website, the local ward offices have not been carrying out repairs,

The administration earlier claimed to have repaired more than 900 roads before the onset of the rains. It had said most of the road work was carried out in the western suburbs.

The maximum number of complaints the civic body has received is also from the western suburbs — 92 potholes, the highest, have been reported in Borivli, 90 in Andheri and 88 in Goregaon.

Ashok Pawar, chief engineer, roads department, said, “In 2014, the rains started in the last week of June. This year, 40% of the season’s rainfall has already taken place. There has hardly been a dry spell to repair the reported potholes.”