Rs 40 cr later, roads remain a mess

The civic body has spent Rs 40 crore in four months filling potholes and repairing roads, though the city’s roads remain pockmarked and Mumbaiites continue to face traffic snarls and meet with accidents because of potholes.

The civic body has spent Rs 40 crore in four months filling potholes and repairing roads, though the city’s roads remain pockmarked and Mumbaiites continue to face traffic snarls and meet with accidents because of potholes.

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In fact, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has spent the entire year’s budget to fill potholes within four months, from April 1 to August 8. “The BMC has spent Rs 40 crore and allocated an additional Rs 17 crore,” said a civic official on condition of anonymity

The BMC has now slapped a fine of Rs 23 lakh on contractors for shoddy work.

Of Rs 40 crore, the BMC spent Rs 26 crore - more than 50% of the annual provision - in just April and May.

The remaining Rs 14 crore was spent from June 1 to August 8.

“The figure does not make sense to me. The roads should be motorable, that’s it,” said Vidya Vaidya, a member of the H-west Citizens Federation. What the BMC spends must be visible to taxpayers, she said. “You [BMC officials] can make money but also give relief to common people.”

The western suburbs have the maximum number of potholes. Of the 24 wards in the city, the most number of pothole locations are in Andheri (east), Dahisar, Malad, Kandivli and Borivli.

At Rs 60 lakh, the least amount spent has been on the A-ward (Nariman Point to Metro cinema).

Last year, the BMC spent more than Rs 56 crore to fill 14,242 pothole locations.