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Time of India
5 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
BMC to spend 154cr to fill potholes; lags in desilting
Mumbai: This monsoon, the BMC will spend nearly Rs 154 crore on pothole repairs. BMC officials said this sum is allocated for roads which are yet to be concretised and are under asphalt or paver blocks. Large-scale road concretisation works have been going on in the city for the past two years to make roads pothole-free. Civic officials have justified the allocation by pointing out the amount is significantly lower than last year's Rs 205 crore. Advocate and activist Godfrey Pimenta said while immediate pothole repairs are essential for ensuring road safety during heavy rain, the recurring nature of these fixes highlights systemic inefficiencies. "Temporary solutions should never be prioritised over durable, long-term infrastructure improvements," he said. BMC officials, though, said the allocation is necessary as several roads are still not under the defect liability period (DLP). "The contractor is required to maintain roads under DLP," said an official. Every monsoon, the BMC allocates a certain amount for filling potholes. Residents have questioned the rationale, arguing if road works improve conditions, the need for such a large pothole-filling budget should have reduced further. "As the BMC is spending thousands of crores on road concretisation, one would expect the works to be of superior quality. The BMC plan to spend another Rs 150 crore on filling potholes is completely unjustified. As citizens, we want to know how much has been recovered so far from road concretisation contractors for shoddy work and not completing works on time," said Mandeep Singh Makkar from Chandivali Citizens Forum. Dhaval Shah from the Lokhandwala Oshiwara Citizens Association said the issue is pothole filling doesn't last one monsoon season. "The expenses made for pothole filling should be audited so that taxpayers' funds are used wisely, and the defect liability period should be introduced for a longer period in the contract so that any reappearance makes the contractor liable to refill it at his expense," he said. Meanwhile, even as May has ended, the BMC is yet to complete 100% of its pre-monsoon desilting work. Its own public dashboard states as of June 3 (Tuesday), only 76.96% of the desilting target was achieved, with 7.46 lakh metric tonne of silt removed of the total estimated 9.69 lakh MT. In case of Mithi river, desilting stood at 55.57%. Officials blame the delay on a probe into Mithi desilting contracts.
Indian Express
13-05-2025
- Climate
- Indian Express
Rain brings respite from Mumbai's dry weather, more in store, says IMD
Mumbai and the neighbouring districts of Thane and Raigad woke up to overcast skies and spells of light rainfall on Tuesday morning. Forecasting more pre-monsoon showers on cards, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that the region will continue to experience light to moderate rainfall along with thunderstorms until the end of the week (Saturday). The pre-monsoon spell coincided with the advancement of southwest monsoon into Nicobar Islands, south Bay of Bengal as well as south and north Andaman Sea, marking its onset in the country, nearly a week ahead of schedule. Bringing respite from the city's dry and warm weather, several pockets of Mumbai, particularly the eastern suburbs such as Ghatkopar, Vikhroli, Powai, Chembur etc, and neighbouring districts of Thane, experienced brief spells of showers and thunderstorm activity on Tuesday morning, followed by overcast skies throughout the day. The showers and cloudy skies drove down the heat levels as the IMD's Santacruz and Colaba stations recorded 34 degrees Celsius on Tuesday. Despite the brief spell, several pockets of the city including Kurla, Vikhroli, Sakinaka and some low lying areas experienced water logging, inconveniencing pedestrians and triggering traffic snarls during the early hours. 'Even with little showers, Sakinaka and Kherani road get flooded. Despite the rainfall in the morning, stagnant water remained in place until the late on Tuesday next to the L&T flyover near Saki Vihar Road. A single shower exposes the monsoon preparedness of BMC, which has an annual budget of Rs. 74,000 crores. This is the condition of the financial capital of India,' said Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of Chandivali Citizens Welfare Association (CCWA). According to the IMD, the city will continue to experience light to moderate showers along with thunderstorms over the next four to five days until Saturday. While no alerts have been sounded for the metropolis, its neighbouring districts have been placed under 'yellow alert' over the coming days. In Thane and Raigad, for instance, a yellow alert with the likelihood of ' thunderstorms accompanied with lightning, light to moderate rainfall and gusty winds ' has been sounded until Friday at least. This spell of showers came along the heels of the city experiencing intermittent spells of heavy rain and gusty winds for four consecutive days last week. In what has already made this month Mumbai's wettest month since 2021, the Colaba coastal observatory logged 61.3mm rain until Tuesday morning, while the Santacruz observatory registered 38mm rain thus far. Senior officials from IMD Mumbai attributed the current spell of pre-monsoon activity to a low lying trough, which has led to wind discontinuity and change in weather patterns.
Time of India
08-05-2025
- Climate
- Time of India
Just one spell of heavy rain waterlogs Sakinaka road, exposes poor drainage system
Mumbai: Videos and photos of a waterlogged Sakinaka road following Wednesday's downpour went viral after it was shared by the Chandivli Citizens Welfare Association (CCWA) on social media platform X. The footage showed vehicles wading through waterlogged, filth-ridden streets, highlighting the area's poor drainage system that was overwhelmed by just one spell of a post, CCWA said, "Despite @mybmc budget of around Rs. 75000/- crores, this is the condition of Sakinaka in Mumbai. One shower and monsoon preparedness of @mybmcWardL is exposed."Mandeep Singh Makkar, founder of the association, said there was a traffic jam on the stretch, and it appears that the civic administration too was caught off guard owing to the unseasonal rains. "This is just a few kilometres away from the city's international airport. Politicians who come for inaugurating these drain cleaning works put up banners and disappear thereafter, leaving citizens to bear the brunt of this half-done work," said X handle, @weworkngo, pointed out, "Heavy rainfall has turned Sakinaka Metro Station into a nightmare! The streets are flooded, littered with debris, and vehicles are struggling to move. The situation is dire—urgent action needed to tackle this mess!"In response, the BMC blamed a high-intensity 15–20-minute downpour observed in Sakinaka and Chandivali. "Despite ongoing desilting work on the Safed Pool nalla system, the rain and floating material caused Nalla No. 10 to overflow for about 20-30 minutes, resulting in nine inches of waterlogging. The storm water drain department has commenced desilting Nalla No. 10 (Major Nalla), which passes through dense slums," said the BMC in a reply to the BMC undertakes drain cleaning a few months ahead of the monsoon, with most of the work completed before the rains arrive. Civic officials said garbage dumped by citizens in the drains often clogs them again, making it difficult to keep the stormwater network flowing smoothly.
