This Article is From Aug 29, 2011

Mumbai: Municipal corporation to fill up gaping potholes in 2 days

Mumbai: Municipal corporation to fill up gaping potholes in 2 days
Mumbai: Lakhs of Mumbaikars are gearing up for Ganesh Chaturthi festivities, beginning from September 1 but the pockmarked roads in the city may not provide a smooth ride for the elephant headed god.

With just three days left for the festival, the local civic body is yet to fill up over 60 potholed stretches that needs immediate repairs.

According to the statistics available with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the maximum number of potholes are in western suburbs, followed by eastern suburbs and city areas.

In western suburbs there are 37 stretches that are yet to be attended, with east side of Bandra, Khar and Santa Cruz having eight stretches, the highest in the western suburbs.

In the eastern suburbs, there are 15 potholed stretches including  Chembur (west) which has five stretches, the highest. The island city has 16 potholed stretches, with four of them in A ward.

"We are carrying out work on war footing basis. We will fill up the 68 pothole stretches by this month-end," Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), chief engineer (roads), Satish Badve, told PTI.

Since the onset of the monsoon, civic administration has been facing the wrath of common man over potholes. The BMC earmarks Rs 40 crore for pothole repairs during monsoon. Since it has been facing criticism for the poor condition of roads, the civic body has increased its
pothole repair budget to about Rs 60 crore.

"We understand that Mumbaikars are facing problems and they are frustrated. But there are certain things like rainfall and traffic which are not in our control. We need dry spell to fill up potholes. We need to restrict the traffic movement on the repaired road to let the hot-mix material settle down," Badve said.
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