World | India
Lawmaker leads march to protest poor roads
Potholed roads have always been the bane of this city though constantly complaining citizens put up with the civic body's shoddy repair work.
- By Pamela Raghunath, Correspondent
- Published: 23:42 August 21, 2008
Mumbai: Potholed roads have always been the bane of this city though constantly complaining citizens put up with the civic body's shoddy repair work.
A politician yesterday led led a silent march against the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) protesting the civic failure to repair the roads properly.
"The state of the BMC roads across the city is pathetic and in spite of several assurances, the BMC is unable to meet the deadline" of completing the repairs, says Priya Dutt, the Congress MP who represents the Mumbai North-West constituency.
"Errant contractors should not only be blacklisted but criminal proceedings must be initiated against them for breach of contract," says Dutt, the daughter of the late parliamentarian and veteran actor Sunil Dutt.
With citizens not always coming out on the streets to vent their dissatisfaction, Dutt feels it is time everyone got together to compel the civic body to act immediately.
Several prominent residents of western suburbs including some film-makers and religious leaders as well as several elected representatives of the BMC joined the protest march to the deputy municipal commissioner's office in Andheri, a western suburb.
The memorandum presented to the BMC pointed out that the civic body has "lost all credibility in offering even the minimum quality level of road surfaces".
Demanding defect-free and smooth roads as seen in other parts of the world, Dutt wants the BMC to ban indiscriminate digging of roads and start slapping a heavy fine or even jail term for law breakers.
"We demand that the Chief Engineer, Roads, must confirm they will hereafter strictly adhere to the specification and standards laid down in the BMC and substantiate with written inspection reports on raw materials, process and final inspection," stated the memorandum.
Before every monsoon, the BMC goes about filling thousands of potholes across the metropolis and by the end of the monsoon or even before it ends, the condition of the roads are deteriorates to what it was before. After failing to make the roads navigable by Monday as promised, the BMC has extended its deadline to tomorrow.
Major roads across eastern and western suburbs are in poor shape, in fact "critical" as one civic official put it. A nexus between corrupt contractors and some BMC officials is said to be behind the sloppy work being done across the city. Dutt is demanding the BMC to undertake a scientific and unbiased evaluation and the grading system of prospective road contractors based on technical competence.
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