Will Mumbai痴 battered roads lead to Shanghai?
Yet again, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is at the receiving end. Once more, it痴 the pathetic condition of roads in the city. Despite having invited the wrath of the High Court (HC) over this issue, the civic authorities do not seem to be taking the matter seriously, something which has invited one more Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
Five consistent days of heavy rainfall has taken its toll on city roads making commuting more difficult. Potholes have made the routine of Mumbaikars miserable. Ironically, the condition of roads in the vicinity of the 羨� ward which housed the state Headquarters (Mantralaya), High Court and other major offices, including BMC痴 head office, is no different from the rest of the city.
Near Mantralya the road is not visible, what exists there on the street are big cracks and small puddles of water. For motorists, it痴 like participating in a race of 蘇urdles�, dotted as the road is with potholes, negotiating them and at times having a bumpy ride.
Fed up with this state of affairs, Western India Automobile Association (WIAA) has decided to file a PIL on this sensitive issue. Along with BMC, it has decided to sue the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and the state government.
When contacted, Nitin Dosa, Executive Chairman of WIAA said, 添es we have decided to file a PIL against these three government agencies. Now, there is no option left but to sue these officials who have no time to pay heed to such serious problems. They are the same people who talk about making Mumbai a Shanghai. I don稚 understand how they can even talk like this. This is the height of shamelessness! You just can稚 provide good, smooth vehicular roads and authorities are dreaming of a Shanghai!�
哲ext week, we will file this PIL in Bombay High Court. Every time they keep on passing the buck to each other and shrug their responsibility. We don稚 want to give them any chance. So we have decided to sue them together. Already five PILs are pending against BMC on this one issue in the HC. The honourable court has issued the categorical orders despite which nothing has happened,� Dosa added.
The roads in the Metro are testing the patience of Mumbaikars. Stressed by the number of hours spent on commuting to work, they are on the verge of reacting strongly. In a bid to limit this time spent in transit, some of serving men are even willing to migrate to another city with lesser commuting hassles.
Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and Information Technology (IT) companies have already made the shift to alternative locations like Bangalore, Pune and Nashik. The serial bomb blasts on the Western line have only made matters worse.
BMC has counted 8,112 potholes on city roads when it rained for five days at a stretch, which increased the woes of people and the civic body. The administration now plans an investment of Rs 15.5 crore to rebuild these patches.
According to Assistant Municipal Commissioner V M Balamwar, 哲o doubt there are some potholes in 羨� ward area. Actually we have noticed it and started the repairing work but due to heavy rains we were forced to stop the work. During the last couple of days, we have repaired four to five spots. But still there are seven to eight spots which desperately need to be refurbished. I can tell you by August 20 the roads in 羨� ward will be in proper condition.�
The BMC toiled to get rid of most of the potholes just before the monsoon. But even after the announcement by Mayor Datta Dalvi and Municipal Commissioner Johny Joseph, the work remained incomplete. During monsoon the rain made the condition more pathetic. According to sources, the loss is far less than last year痴 deluge when some 24,000 potholes required surgery in the following months.
This year the preparations were better than last year. Yet the BMC is facing criticism from citizens and the judiciary. The administration appointed 24 agencies this year for road repairs as compared to last year痴 12. This time we have also, for the first time, appointed a third party to audit the quality of city roads. But even after taking these precautions the mess could not be avoided.
The civic officials also claim to have fined several contractors for doing shoddy work in covering the potholes this year, collecting Rs21 lakh in fines from them. But the fact remains the roads are going from bad to worse.