Mumbai’s roads are still in poor condition, and citizens’ everyday travels are made into a nightmare by continuous construction, poor maintenance, and careless digging. The situation on the ground belies the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) repeated pledges to upgrade the road infrastructure.
A stark example of inefficiency surfaced in Mulund East, where a BMC notice at a construction site revealed that repairing a mere 60-meter stretch of road would take an astonishing 300 days. A frustrated resident took to X to express outrage, questioning, “Are you freaking serious @mybmcWardT @mybmc? 300 DAYS FOR 60 METER ROAD? Mindless digging all over Mulund. Did we find crude or Gold?” The post quickly gained traction, with many Mumbaikars voicing similar frustrations. However, the BMC has yet to respond.
The “Corruption Mere Gully Mein” campaign, which involves citizen audits of ongoing projects, was started by the Mumbai Congress in reaction to the poor execution and lack of accountability of road concretisation projects. Three roads in the western suburbs have already been examined by the initiative: Mithaghar Road in Dahisar West, IC Colony Road No. 4, and SV Road in Kandivali.
The campaign was led by former corporator Sheetal Mhatre, who chastised contractors for disregarding standard operating procedures (SOPs). She identified many flaws, such as careless curing, badly done drainage work, haphazard utility placements, and insufficient barricading for public safety. Additional dangers to pedestrians and drivers were discovered during her assessment of Mithaghar Road, including dangerous pits, too narrow walkways, and inadequate barricades.
Mumbai Congress President and MP Varsha Gaikwad has gone a step further, calling the BMC’s road concretisation project the “biggest scam in the city’s history.” In a post on X, she stated, “Alert citizens in IC Colony, along with Mhatre, have forced BMC and its contractors to rectify defects, but we need a citywide movement to hold this government accountable. Mumbaikars are suffering, and taxpayers are being looted.” She urged residents to document and report poorly executed projects by sharing photos and videos with @INCMumbai or tagging her directly. “We will amplify your voice and fight for your concerns,” she assured.
The BMC is currently working on 1,173 roads totalling 433 kilometres; 260 of these roads have been finished in Phase 1 and 496 are in Phase 2 of construction. Before the monsoon arrives, the civic organisation hopes to have 324 kilometres of concreted roads completed. However, disgruntled Mumbaikars are still demanding accountability as worries about subpar performance and a lack of transparency grow.
Source: The Free Press Journal
