Mumbai: 

More rain, more trouble: This picture was taken yesterday near Elphinstone Road station. Potholes in the city have increased by more than 1,500 over the last fortnight, because of the rains. pic/shashank rao

Although the BMC has made it mandatory for contractors to use 'carbon core' technology to cover potholes, they seem to pay no heed. As a result, potholes in the city have increased by more than 1,500 over the last fortnight.

Carbon core is a cold mixture of asphalt imported from South Africa, which takes less time to dry even during rains. The BMC made this mixture mandatory two months back.

The BMC had a meeting with road contractors yesterday and fired them for not using carbon core to fill up potholes. An official note from the additional municipal commissioner (AMC) R A Rajeev said the number of potholes and trenches across 24 wards in Mumbai are increasing and that contractors are not following the prescribed quantum while using carbon core mixture.

Sumer Infrastructure Ltd - the distributor who imports carbon core from South Africa — put the blame on contractors. Deepak Shah, director of Sumer Infrastructure, said, "We had to keep aside 700 bags of carbon core as contractors were either not using it or were using only one or two bags per ward."

Sources within the BMC elaborated on the corruption. They say Sumer had imported a bag of carbon core at Rs 350-370, but the contractors, in an attempt to grab more work, quoted only Rs 225-250 per bag. The contract generally goes to the lowest bidder.

Another engineer from BMC said, "There is rampant corruption at the ward level and ward officers are hand-in-glove with the contractors." However, R A Rajeev denied it and said there is no discrepancy in the figures of potholes at the ward level.