Mumbai: With the onset of monsoon rains, Municipal Commissioner and Administrator Bhushan Gagrani has instructed civic engineers to proactively identify and repair potholes across Mumbai, aiming for pothole-free roads to ensure smooth commuting for citizens.
To expedite the process, the BMC has appointed contractors zone-wise through a tender process, and the actual road repair work has begun. Gagrani has directed all Deputy Engineers across the city’s 227 electoral wards to conduct daily site inspections and not wait for public complaints to act. “Potholes must be filled while they are still small. Once a road starts deteriorating, strict action will follow,” he warned.
During a high-level review meeting held today at the BMC headquarters, Gagrani emphasized that pothole-filling operations should be more aggressive over weekends when traffic is lower. “This will ensure that citizens commuting on Monday have a smoother experience,” he said.
Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) Abhijit Bangar highlighted that each Deputy Engineer is responsible for maintaining 10-15 km of roads and must personally inspect them every alternate day on a two-wheeler to get a real-time view. “Monitoring from office desks is unacceptable,” he said.
BMC officials also confirmed that the number of potholes and the annual expenditure on repairs has seen a significant decline since 2023, thanks to increased cement concretization of roads. To maintain quality, the civic body has mandated that potholes on roads wider than six meters be filled using mastic asphalt only, not cold mix. Use of geo-polymer concrete has also been recommended in specific stretches.
Bangar also instructed that mastic cookers used in road repairs be GPS-enabled and tracked using Vehicle Tracking Systems. The availability of mastic asphalt must be ensured throughout the week, with a special focus on weekend operations.
“Engineers must take full responsibility for their areas. Timely action can prevent citizen inconvenience,” Gagrani reiterated.