Mumbaiites, accept it. Your rides will remain bumpy this monsoon

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has delayed the repair work of almost 22 roads in the Dahisar and Borivli regions by almost a year, and the work will now begin only after the rains.

The residents of the western and central suburbs are in for a rough ride this monsoon. The next may be no better.

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The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has delayed the repair work of almost 22 roads in the Dahisar and Borivli regions by almost a year, and the work will now begin only after the rains.

The civic body’s standing committee approved a proposal of Rs70 crore for asphalting of 22 roads in the western suburbs last week, nine months after the tenders were first floated.

The deadline for the work has been set 15 months later, excluding the three months of monsoon in 2016.

However, the proposal was passed after it had expired, said opposition corporators. Going by the rules, the proposal’s validity ended in January 2015 and the BMC should have floated the tender again, they said.

The civic body claimed that three contractors had initially shown interest in the project, but two backed out and hence they are going ahead with the third contractor, at the price he had quoted seven months ago.

The opposition members in the standing committee claimed the contractor could have started work in August, and the BMC delayed it unnecessarily.

“All the proposals were brought to a standstill initially because of the election code of conduct. Now, the administration claims there were too many proposals on the table and hence it took time to clear them all. Because of this lethargic attitude, the work that could have been completed before

this monsoon won’t be done even by the next rains,” said Pravin Chheda, standing committee member and Congress corporator.