Fill All Potholes on Mumbai Roads by This Weekend: Minister Lodha’s Ultimatum to BMC After Complaints – News18

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the richest civic body in the country, faces shame every year in monsoon when potholes appear on the roads of Mumbai. BMC, whose got budget higher than any other small state in India, spends lakhs of rupees every year to fill the potholes. On Monday, Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Guardian Minister of Suburban Mumbai, met the additional commissioner (Projects) P Velarasu at BMC headquarters in south Mumbai and instructed him to expedite the pothole filling work throughout the city.

Till last week, the BMC filled 6,000 out of the 9,000 potholes on various roads in Mumbai.

Lodha began inspecting the roads Sunday night, and visited the areas where the complaints about the potholes were huge. In the meeting with BMC officials on Monday evening, Lodha instructed them to make the hot casting machines available as early as possible, and also asked the additional commissioner to appoint one nodal engineer for every ward who will look into the pothole issue.

According to sources, the BMC has now decided to patch road craters even on routes under the jurisdiction of other agencies like the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) or any other authority.

Lodha also gave deadline of this weekend to the BMC officials to fill all potholes in Mumbai. He has suggested the BMC to start the 24-hour helpline for public.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday took cognisance of the complaints on potholes in Mumbai. Shinde spoke to BMC administrator Iqbal Singh Chahal and asked him to expedite the work on filling up potholes at the earliest so that Mumbaikars don’t face any inconvenience while commuting.