Mumbai: Only BMC can’t see these potholes

The record rain in the past few days has made road commuting excruciatingly difficult across the city with most thoroughfares developing potholes of all sizes As if to rub it in the BMCrsquos pothole tracking system says Mumbai roads have a little over 500 craters a claim trashed by the citizens They have also accused MMRDA of ignoring the nearly impassable stretch of the Western Express Highway below the Metro 7 line between Dahisar and AndheriPotholes at Nehru Nagar Kurla East on Wednesday PicSayyed Sameer AbediThe city may have received record rain in the past few days and witnessed road stretches getting washed away but the BMCrsquos pothole tracking system paints a different picture The platform shows only 520 potholes in Mumbai of which just 100 potholes were reported in the past weekCitizens said the scene was different a year ago as not too many people were out on roads due to strict curbs But this time despite drawing a lot of flak over potholes from people and politicians the BMC is yet to move swiftly to fix the roadsAlso read Get rid of these craters motorists beg authoritiesThe fewer number of potholes is mainly due to underreporting said sources The pothole system says 307 of the 520 craters have already been repaired Citizens said there are a large number of potholes in Bandra Andheri SV Road and Link Road Santacruz Kurla Ghatkopar and Chembur that are yet to be attendedSources said citizens often take to social media to raise complaints of bad roads but they do not get updated in the pothole tracking system even though officials take actionPotholes at Aarey Milk Colony PicAnurag AhireAndheri resident Shailesh Wagh said he faced much inconvenience when he recently travelled to Mumbai Central ldquoThere is too much chaos on the roads of the city especially the internal ones and it is taking such long hours to even reach shorter distances Despite the city yet to open up there is so much traffic on the roads and the potholes are adding to the misery of those who have to travel for work without having the option of local trains available to themrdquo he saidDhaval Shah a member of the Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association said ldquoThe incessant rain is exposing the quality of work done by the BMC so far Two days back the entire road surface of a connecting bridge between SV Road and Mrinaltai Gore flyover near Ram Mandir was washed out and now the authorities have opened it for traffic after making it more like a kuccha roadrdquoAn official from BMCrsquos road department who did not wish to be identified said ldquoWe are repairing the potholes whenever we are complained about and also doing it by taking rounds Once we get a dry spell we will be able to repair the majority of themrdquoA road near Mulund toll naka PicSameer MarkandeHellish ride on road below upcoming Metro corridorCitizens commuters along the upcoming Metro corridor between Dahisar and Andheri on the Western Express Highway have accused the MMRDA of not maintaining the road that is full of potholes The commuters said they have to face massive traffic jams during peak hours With fuel prices rising the potholes also cost them a fortune they said An average 50000 vehicles use the arterial WEH daily The experience is similar for those who enter the city after crossing the Dahisar toll plazaPotholes below the Metro 7 line on Western Express Highway in Dahisar on Wednesday PicSatej ShindeLawyer Vedika Chaubey who travels between Malad and Borivali every day said ldquoThere is no doubt once the DahisarAndheri East Metro corridor becomes operational our journey is going to be hasslefree but right now we are facing a lot of inconvenience while travelling between Malad and Borivli We get stuck in traffic jams at many places during peak hoursrdquo Another commuter Omkar Patil said ldquoBetween JVLR flyover junction and Hub Mall there are two metro stations and there are uneven road patches that lead to traffic jamsrdquoMetropolitan Commissioner S V R Srinivas said ldquoWe have a proper machinery in place and our team repairs the potholes as and when required If at all there are any potholes or uneven road surfaces they will be repaired when we get dry spellsrdquo100No of potholes reported on BMCrsquos tracking system in past week