Roads recently repaired by civic body in a mess

The civic body’s carelessness when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money is galling.

The civic body’s carelessness when it comes to spending taxpayers’ money is galling.

HT Image

The Hindustan Times on Wednesday inspected 10 roads in four areas that were repaired and rebuilt less than six months ago at an expense of Rs23.4 crore.

The condition of these purportedly improved roads is evidence of unsupervised work, wasteful expenditure, as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) indifference.

The four sites HT visited include Napean Sea Road, Matunga, Ghatkopar and Bandra.

On Napean Sea Road, for instance, the BMC has put down that 89% of the work is complete. But barely anything has been done on the 1.8-km road, on which the BMC is spending Rs 22.5 crore.

The road, which is being asphalted, is uneven, has potholes and in many parts paver blocks have been laid haphazardly.

The situation is similar on the other three areas.

“A 250 to 300-metre stretch [on Napean Sea Road] was completed before the monsoon. The remaining work will start in October,” said Satish Badwe, chief engineer (roads), BMC.