Just like the rain, potholes are back in Mumbai. From June 10 to July 1, citizens have reported 706 potholes across the city, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Of these, 552 potholes have been fixed.
P-North ward in Malad topped with 65 complaints, followed by R-South ward in Kandivli with 52 complaints and K-West ward in Andheri with 44 complaints. The least number of complaints relating to potholes were from A ward of Colaba, Churchgate (10 complaints), followed by a slight rise in G South ward of Lower Parel and Prabhadevi (12), and H West ward in Bandra and M West in Chembur and Tilaknagar (14).
According to BMC, the complaints were reported through the BMC’s official website, social media, WhatsApp, mobile application and BMC’s disaster management cell helpline.
In some cases, such as A ward, H-East, K-West, P-South and R-North wards, all cases were solved. On the contrary, only 50% cases in K-West ward, 56% in F-south ward and 58% in S ward were attended to.
A BMC official said, “Despite the number being a little on the higher side considering the data is for 20 days, we have a track record of 78%. Every pothole-related complaint has to be attended to within 48 hours by ward engineers.”
Despite being at the receiving end every year, the civic body claims the number of potholes has been going down in the city. The BMC maintains that the number can be controlled, but one cannot have zero potholes.
In the 2019-20 budget, the BMC allocated ₹1,520 crore for roads department, which looks into potholes complaint, a jump of around 25% from the previous year.
To avoid the blame game over road maintenance, the BMC in 2017 released a list of roads it maintains.
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