BMC road engineers to ensure potholes-free roads, HC told

Under flak for poor condition of city roads, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has created a separate post of road engineer who will have to ensure that the stretch of road assigned to him remains free of potholes.
Under the new arrangement, the road engineers will face penalty in case of dereliction.
This was informed by BMC Commissioner Sitaram Kunte to the Bombay High Court as part of the action plan undertaken by the civic body to address the issue of pockmarked roads across the city and the accountability of civic officials and contractors.
A division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M S Sanklecha was hearing a PIL on the poor condition of roads in the state and recent incidents of motorists losing their lives due to potholes-ridden roads.

According to the action plan submitted by Kunte to the HC today, the road engineers will be held accountable for the bad condition of roads in their assigned area.
"The road engineer will conduct supervision of road works including repairs of potholes every ten days and submit a report to the executive engineer. If the road engineer does not address the problem of pothole within 48 hours then he would be given a negative point which amounts to Rs 50," Kunte said.

He added that disciplinary action will also be taken against the errant staff.
The corporation has also decided to take deterrent action against the contractors who fail to construct good roads or repair potholes.

At the time of awarding contract for construction and maintenance of roads, the corporation will implement the Specified Defect Liability Period on the contractors. If any defect is found on the road within the liability period then the contractor will have to get it fixed at his own cost.
If the work done is not as per the specified standards, then a penalty will be imposed on the contractor.
Repeated failure of meeting the standards will call for suspension of registration of the contractor or even prohibiting him from participation in future render process, according to the Action Plan.