The BMC has a humongous task to make all city roads motorable before the monsoon hits |
With only 15 days remaining for the BMC to meet its May 31 deadline and complete all ongoing road works, there are roads in the city which are been dug up now. Activist Kamlakar Shenoy has highlighted that small roads in the Dongri – Mazgaon area have been dug up in the last few days for concretisation, at the time when the BMC has directed contractors to not start work on any new road works. The BMC has a humongous task to make all city roads motorable before the monsoon hits.
“The road near Noor Baug area in Dongri is dug up now for concretisation. The road meets a dead end. We residents fail to understand what was the urgency to start the work now? Additionally, the contractor is violating the BMC’s directions to start any new road works. Why there is no action by the BMC,” Shenoy questioned.
The Free Press Journal had reported on May 8 that out of 2121 on-going road works, as much as 83% of the work was still in progress. Speaking with this newspaper, Additional municipal commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar had said that Mumbaikars are already suffering from extensive road works and if any road is left half-done, it will create more problems during the monsoon. “Our priority is to complete all roads works by May 31, if not then complete the road junction-to-junction and not to leave any road half-done. Thus, we have told contractors not to commence any new road work.”
The citizens are also pointing towards lack of monitoring and accountability by the road contractors. Trustee of Watchdog Foundation, Godfrey Pimenta said, “In the K East Ward, 19 road concretisation projects are being handled under the supervision of a single Junior Engineer from the Maintenance Department. This clearly points to inadequate staffing for effective monitoring of the works. Moreover, it reflects a serious lapse in oversight by senior officials of the corporation.”
The BMC has undertaken cement concretisation of a total of 2121 roads, including phases 1 and 2, amounting to a total length of 700 km of roads to concretise across Mumbai. As of May 5, the concretisation of 353 roads was completed and work was in progress on 1768 roads.
The BMC will be carrying forward the work the remaining work to the next season, that is after monsoon.
