Civic agencies give themselves a pat
MUMBAI: On the eve of the Bombay high court deadline for making the city pothole-free, the BMC’s self-congratulatory report card declares a score of 98% while MMRDA gives itself credit for completing 95% of the work.
As the agencies in-charge pat themselves on their backs for a job well done, these obscure statistics mean little to the average motorist — he knows it’ll be a long time before he will ever enjoy a smooth ride.
While MMRDA is yet to account for several ill-maintained stretches on the highways, many of the arterial and internal roads under the BMC too are still far from being pothole-free. For instance, take the roads at Bhandup, Deonar, Andheri, Govandi and Kurla.
“Work has been done at the entrance of Andheri-Kurla road but work on the remaining 700 metres of the Marol Road has been in a bad shape since last year. Other internal roads like the road off Mahakali caves road towards Jogeshwari are in need of heavy repairs,” said local activist James John.
In other places, even if the potholes have been filled up, motorists complain that the shoddy nature of the levelling work continues to make for a bumpy ride.
For instance, take the arterial Babasaheb Ambedkar road from Sion circle to Dadar. Engineers at MMRDA insist that 95 per cent of their work is complete.
But to believe this, one would have to ignore recurring trouble spots on the two highways, Linking Road, S V Road, etc. Specifically, there are potholes at the base of the Andheri Flyover, Thakur Complex at Kandivili, Rawal Pada at Dahisar and Mulund check naka.
At a media briefing on Tuesday, Mayor Datta Dalvi claimed the BMC has completed 98% of its road repair work.
“Most of the bad patches are on the MMRDA roads but sadly the BMC has to face the public ire every time,” said Dalvi. It was buck-passing typical of government agencies. But the common man is certainly refusing to buy such arguments.
URL- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1937772.cms