New BMC norms for your footpaths

A day after Hindustan Times launched a campaign to fight for your footpaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that it will order all ward officials to follow a set of guidelines to im-prove and maintain pavements.

A day after Hindustan Times launched a campaign to fight for your footpaths, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has announced that it will order all ward officials to follow a set of guidelines to im-prove and maintain pavements.

HT Image

The BMC has also decided to rope in experts from the Indian Institute of Technology-Mumbai to train its engineers on how to lay paver blocks and improve footpaths.

And the municipal corporation has announced that it will pay greater attention to pavements while building new roads in the coming months.

On Saturday, Hindustan Times had revealed that the BMC has spent Rs 131 crore on Mumbai's pavements over the past five years, with little to show for the expenditure but pavements that are crumbling, encroached upon, uneven or altogether missing across the city.

Reacting to the HT report, Satish Badve, chief engineer of the civic roads department, said instructions would now be issued to all ward officers on maintenance of pavements. "Local officials will have to supervise work conducted by various utilities. Strict action will be taken against those who leave pavements in bad shape," Badve said.