Civic body must get control of all Mumbai roads: Mayor

As Mumbai gears up for rains, Mayor Sunil Prabhu today said roads in the metropolis should be placed under the control of the local civic body, which will take responsibility for their regular maintenance, a major issue for the citizens, especially during monsoons.
Besides Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) Government, agencies like MMRDA and MSRDC are involved in construction and upkeep of infrastructure projects here.
"Currently, roads in Mumbai are under various agencies. If placed under one single agency, it would become easier for that agency to undertake repair works and also start big ticket (infra) projects. Hence, we want that all roads in Mumbai should be placed under the control of BMC," he said while talking to reporters here.

"I will be writing a letter to Maharashtra Chief Minister (Prithviraj Chavan) in this regard," he said.
Along with the responsibility of roads, all revenue sources from them should also be placed under the control of MCGM (commonly known as BMC), Prabhu said.
About MCGM's preparedness for the approaching rainy season, he said the civic body is creating a website for Mumbaikars that will have important information on rains and related issues.

"We are launching a website which will have details about amount of rainfall in a particular area, the exact temperature there and weather predictions."
The first citizen of Mumbai said MCGM is in the process of making a specialised application for smartphones that will provide contents of the website to the users.

Special attention will be given to address health concerns during monsoon and campaigns would be undertaken to highlight importance of cleanliness to ward off rain-related diseases, Prabhu said.
"Dengue is a common disease in Mumbai during monsoon. We will impart education on cleanliness among people. We will start a campaign to control diseases like malaria. All health facilities will be provided to citizens during monsoons."
To a query on the drainage system, which gets clogged during heavy downpour, Prabhu said till May 22, 80-85 per cent of the drains in Mumbai had been cleaned.
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray, whose party is in power in the MCGM, will take stock of drain cleaning status tomorrow, the Mayor added.