The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has begun a strict crackdown on poor road construction throughout the city, civic officials confirmed Wednesday, one day after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and BMC Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani reviewed Mumbai’s ambitious road concretisation project.
The BMC, under Gagrani’s leadership, has vowed zero tolerance towards poor quality and negligence in the city’s road development programme. The civic body has already taken punitive action against contractors and ready-mix concrete (RMC) suppliers found guilty of delivering substandard work. This action is part of a wider mission to make Mumbai pothole-free by accelerating the development of high-quality cement concrete roads.
According to an official statement, any contractor or agency responsible for delays or compromised work quality will face hefty fines and blacklisting. For instance, a contractor working in Aarey Colony was found guilty of both delays and inferior roadwork. The contractor has now been banned from participating in BMC tenders for the next two years and fined Rs 5 lakh.
Moreover, two RMC plants failed the crucial slump tests, which assess the quality and workability of concrete mixtures. These plants showed significant mismatches between the quality at the batching plant and the on-site output. As a result, their registrations have been cancelled, and they are barred from supplying concrete for any BMC project for the next six months.
In addition, two road contractors have each been fined Rs 20 lakh for delivering substandard concrete work. The civic body has issued clear directives that engineers must be present on-site during construction, and strict micro-planning is in place to ensure the timely completion of roadworks by 31 May 2025.
The BMC is also conducting surprise inspections to ensure adherence to quality standards. Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar has personally been inspecting sites. On 20 March 2025, he visited a site in M-East ward, where he discovered slump test discrepancies. The concrete was immediately rejected, and the RMC supplier was fined Rs 20 lakh and blacklisted for six months.
A similar inspection on 1 April 2025 at Jail Road in B ward also revealed poor concrete quality. The slump test results once again showed a significant difference between the batching plant and the construction site. Consequently, the responsible contractor was fined Rs 20 lakh, and the RMC plant was blacklisted for six months.
A key measure of concrete workability, especially the water-to-cement ratio, which influences strength and durability, is the slump test, which is now required at the RMC facility and on the building site. In order to provide long-lasting, pothole-free infrastructure for Mumbai, the BMC is dedicated to minimising such lapses, as excessive water causes weaker roadways.
Source: Mid-Day
