Mumbai has been grappling with relentless rainfall since Friday, and the situation has worsened the city’s already chronic pothole issue. Civic records reveal that in just a day leading up to Wednesday evening, 442 new potholes were spotted across different areas. Between June 1 and August 20, residents filed a total of 10,803 pothole complaints, underscoring the scale of the crisis. Strikingly, 3,356 of these complaints emerged in the last 20 days alone, highlighting how the heavy monsoon showers have rapidly damaged Mumbai’s roads and left citizens increasingly frustrated with the deteriorating infrastructure in their neighborhoods.
Residents have been actively reporting pothole troubles using multiple grievance platforms, including social media, the disaster management helpline (1916), and the recently launched ‘My Pothole Quick Fix’ mobile application. The app, rolled out in June, has already become the most widely used reporting medium with 9,110 complaints lodged through it. To increase transparency, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has introduced a live dashboard that tracks complaint progress in real time. However, continuous downpours and flooding in low-lying areas have made road conditions worse, raising serious doubts about whether the repairs being carried out are timely and truly effective.
Data from the civic body shows that certain wards are facing more challenges than others. The S Ward, covering areas like Powai and Bhandup, is currently the worst affected with 1,880 complaints, of which 1,226 are marked resolved by the BMC. The K-West Ward, which includes Andheri, Juhu, and Oshiwara, has 1,042 complaints, while N Ward (Ghatkopar) and T Ward (Mulund) have logged 921 and 757 complaints respectively. In contrast, A Ward (Colaba, Fort) and B Ward (Dongri) remain the least impacted, reporting fewer than 100 pothole complaints each, suggesting uneven distribution of road damage across Mumbai.
Officials clarified that not every grievance reported was directly linked to potholes. Out of all registered cases, 2,846 were invalid, 754 came under other agencies’ responsibility, and 79 were reopened cases. So far, the BMC maintains that 9,212 complaints have been resolved, though 1,591 remain unattended. Each of Mumbai’s 227 wards has a designated road engineer, who is tasked with checking 10–15 km stretches daily. Civic authorities stated that potholes often worsen after intense rainfall and promised to fill them within 24 to 48 hours. Additionally, a citywide pothole drive is planned before Ganeshotsav once rains subside.
To reduce road damage in the long term, the civic body is pushing ahead with a large-scale road concretisation project. This year, Rs. 154 crore has been allocated for repairs, down from Rs. 205 crore in 2024. Out of Mumbai’s 2,050 km of roads, 1,333 km are already concretised, while 700 km still require upgrading. A Rs. 17,000 crore mega project will cover this gap in two phases: Phase I will include 320 km across 700 roads, while Phase II will span 378 km across 1,421 roads. By May-end, nearly half the work was completed, with remaining work resuming in October.