Admitting that the work is incomplete, Additional Municipal Commissioner (city) R A Rajeev said that major roads in the BMC areas have been covered. “There are lanes and roads in interiors which have not been attended to and will take some time,” he said, adding, “I am not 100 per cent satisfied.”
Contrary to the claims of the BMC, Monday failed to provide a smooth ride to commuters. When asked why the repair work failed to give 100 per cent results, civic officials said that the contractors had to face many difficulties in carrying out the repair work. Contractors blamed the delay on the series of holidays last weekend and non-availability of labourers.
A contractor working in the eastern suburbs and also a member of the municipal construction contractors association said the assurance for filling the potholes was given in a meeting held on August 14.
“On August 15, there was a national holiday and the next day there was a Rakhsa Bandhan holiday. We had difficulty in finding the labourers as they were not working on these days and then the deadline came too soon,” he said on the condition of anonymity.
The contractors said that they have filled the potholes roughly with mettle and grit while the finishing will be done in the coming days.
The BMC and contractors are also blaming MMRDA for the ‘visible’ potholes that give motorists a bumpy ride. “Motorists travel on the flyovers and highways which comes under MMRDA and they still need to carry out the repair work on these. We will now co-ordinate with the agency for pothole repairs,” Rajeev said.
The BMC has directed the MMRDA to repair the potholes by August 23. “The problem is faced by the commuters in two areas—potholes on flyovers which are managed by MMRDA and potholes on highways managed by MSRDC. We have discussed these issues with the authorities concerned and there will be a joint inspection on Tuesday,” said chief engineer (roads) D L Shinde. “All the potholes will be now filled by August 23,” he added.