Mr CM, look how hollow your promises are!

BMC's work belies CM's promise of filling city's potholes in a day, as Aarey Colony, most frequented for visarjans, and other stretches in western suburbs, remain full of craters

After CM Prithviraj Chavan's robust promise on Wednesday to devotees that the city would be one smooth ride for Ganesh visarjan within 24 hours, it appears the BMC was either not listening or chose to ignore the ultimatum. As the civic body failed us, patchy roads prevailed.


Rick-ety roads: Even the highways are not spared, as this picture from
Western Express Highway proves. pic/rane ashish

The deadline for mending roads is already a day behind and the potholes in one of the most popular immersion spots in the western suburbs, the Chhota Kashmir Lake in Aarey Milk Colony in Goregaon (East), remain intact.

The condition of roads in JVLR, the Aarey Colony flyover, and the Dattapada flyover in Borivli is no different.


Giant depressions dot the WEH. Despite the CM's promise, we spotted
several on the Tata Power flyover in Kandivli


Last afternoon, when this reporter drove along Aarey Road going towards the lake from Western Express Highway (WEH), he found that the entire 1-km stretch was full of craters, big and small. The PWD workers seemed like they were just getting started with filling them.

Some of those bringing their Ganpati for immersion in motor vehicles parked the automobiles, got down, and started hoofing it along with the idols, so the sculptures could be immersed unbroken. Devotees using the flyover for reaching immersion spots can expect to break idol, if not neck, they said angrily.


And more on the flyover near the airport in Vile Parle


Moreover, right before you can drive up on the north-bound carriageway of the Aarey colony flyover, you are plunged into a big pothole, which makes the traffic movement slow everyday. The Dattapada flyover has its share of dips and dents. The stretch of Western Express Highway between Andheri and Dahisar is also tattered with several depressions.

Asked what was keeping them from doing work that falls under their jurisdiction, despite the CM's goad, a senior PWD official shifted the blame, saying that Aarey Dairy maintains the road.

Stating the glaringly obvious, PWD Executive Engineer Rajnikant Shinde said, "It is true that there are potholes at some places on WEH." He added, "We were going to fill them in 24 hours but we got delayed because of the rains. If we do the work when the road surface is wet, the mixture that is packed in the potholes comes out. We will soon fill them."

Dairy Commissioner RD Shinde said, "The state government has sanctioned an amount for mending the potholes on Aarey Road, and PWD has already started the repairs."

'But it rained'
The CM had reportedly instructed all agencies on August 31 that all potholes on Mumbai roads should be repaired with in 24 hours. Questioned why the deadline was breached, Shinde said, "Since it rained in the last two days, it was not possible for PWD to repair the roads. The department has already started the work. I also visited the spot to review it. We regret the inconvenience caused to the people coming for immersion at Chhota Kashmir Lake, and I am sure that the road will be free of potholes before the 5-day Ganpati visarjan."u00a0

Nonetheless, devotees coming for visarjan at Aarey Colony had no patience for natural explanations. They were angry with civic authorities and said the CM should be stricter.

On Wednesday, following a meeting with the Brihanmumbai Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Samanway Samiti (BSGSS), the CM said instructions had been issued to repair all potholes on a war-footing before Thursday morning, news reports said. Secretary of BSGSS, Naresh Dhabikwar, said, "We had raised our concerns over potholes with the CM. Immediately after, CM asked BMC commissioner, who was also part of the meeting, to fill them. We hope that before the tenth-day immersions, potholes are filled. We have been hearing of these promises for a month, but nothing has been done. We hope the CM's order is taken seriously."

Minister speaks
The Guardian Minister for Mumbai suburbs, Naseem Khan said, "Today we visited various places in the suburbs, including Powai, Kurla, Ghatkopar and Juhu, along with Assistant Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta to review the potholes. The BMC officials have told us that more than 60 per cent potholes have been filled and the remaining will be filled before visarjan. We have told them that they should work on a war footing and fill the potholes as soon as possible, so that no inconvenience is caused to the people."

What is a pothole?
According to Standing Technical Advisory Committee (STAC) Chairman N V Mirani, "There is no specific definition of a pothole but it can be defined as a place where one can easily keep a pot."

Voices
When I went to the Aarey road for my Ganpati immersion, I realised that officials don't care a hoot about what the CM says. The road was full of potholes, and repair had started only at one section. What is the CM doing? He should take strict action against officials who have not repaired the roads.u00a0
-- Pratik Vaja, Malad resident who had come for Ganpati immersion at Aarey Colony

The lake at Aarey colony is one of the most visited immersion spots. I have been coming here for the last five years. The condition of the road is so bad that it is dangerous to travel with the idol in a car. The funniest part is that the administration is not even listening to the CM who had instructed them to fill the potholes in a day. Our CM should learn from Gujarat CM Narendra Modi on how to be a successful administrator.
--u00a0Jai Jhadhav, u00a0Goregaon resident

Because of potholes on the Aarey road, it is becoming extremely difficulty for people to travel along with the Ganpati idols. There is no use in blaming each other for the problem now. This problem could have been easily avoided if the agency looking after the maintenance of the Aarey road had repaired it much before.
--u00a0Janak Upadhyay, u00a0u00a0Kandivli resident

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