Road repair work to be completed prior to monsoon: BMC to HC

Court had asked the civic body to ensure that all major roads in city are repaired and are potholes-free before monsoon

90% of road repair and maintenance work in the city has been completed and the remaining 10% will be carried out before the onset of monsoon, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday told the Bombay High Court.

A division bench of Justices Shantanu Kemkar and M S Karnik was hearing a suo-moto public interest litigation on the issue of rising number of potholes in the city which was leading to accidents and deaths of motorists.

On the last hearing, the court had asked the civic body to ensure that all major roads and arterial roads in the city are repaired and are potholes-free before monsoon.

BMC counsel Anil Sakhare on Wednesday submitted a compliance report to the court informing it about the work completed by the corporation.

"Road repair and maintenance work is an ongoing process. Till now 90% work is over and the remaining will be completed within the next ten days. During monsoon, the civic body will continue inspecting the roads for maintenance work," Sakhare said.

Sakhare said two helpline numbers have also been set up for citizens to call and lodge complaints and a mobile App has also been launched.

He also said that advertisements regarding this have been given in two newspapers till now, to which the court said the BMC should give more advertisements in the coming week.

"The ads should be large so that people can see it easily. Advertisements of politicians and even civic bodies are full page ads then why not these too," Justice Kemkar said.

The court has posted the petition for further hearing on June 15.