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Four traffic constables repair Tulsi Pipe flyover, albeit temporarily, after civic body turns a deaf ear to their repeated complaints

For those who take the pothole-ridden Tulsi Pipe flyover near Dadar (W) station, here's a bit of a surprise. No longer are you in for a bumpy ride, as the craters on this stretch have been taken care of. Not by the BMC, but by three constables who have been manning this area for over two months now.

Road runners: The four constables took motorists by surprise as they filled potholes with bricks and sand on the busy Tulsi Pipe flyover yesterday. Pic/Bipin Kokate

After patiently listening to motorists complain about the poor condition of the bridge, constables Dilip Pawar, B B Avhad, Firoz Mulani and Uday Bhat decided to take matters in their own hands. This of course after BMC turned a blind eye each time the cops tried to draw their attention to the problem. Yesterday, they filled all the potholes on one lane of the bridge, which was shut since the arrival of the rains in early June.

Motorists' curse
"The problem started with the onset of the monsoon. We were tired explaining to motorists that it was the BMC's job to repair the road, but they simply would not understand and continued to complain. They cursed us for the traffic snarls every day, but we could do nothing," said Mulani. He added that several letters were shot off to the BMC highlighting the problem, but it only fell on deaf ears.

"We were told that there was no point in repairing the road in the monsoons, as the problem would resurface. Fed up, we finally decided to take action; it was pointless pinning our hopes on the BMC. We have repaired the road, but temporarily," said Bhat.

Yesterday, when a dumper truck laden with construction debris -- bricks and sand -- was passing through the Senapati Bapat Marg an idea struck the constables. "We purchased the debris from the truck driver and using the police towing van transported it to the spot. Then we started laying the bricks and sands and filling the potholes," said Mulani.

After five hours of repair work, the constables got rid of most potholes in the lane and threw it open to the public.

That's not all, the cops paid for the repairs from their pocket, without divulging details of the expenditure. "We don't want to reveal the money we doled out because it may create a controversy. We too are responsible citizens and empathise with the motorists. We really did not blame them for cursing us about the bad roads," said Mulani.

BMC says

The civic body was not aware of the cops' good deed. BMC executive engineer Vinod Chittore said, "We don't know of any repair work undertaken by the traffic police. We did receive complaints from them about potholes on the Tulsi Pipe bridge, but laying tar in the monsoon is pointless because it gets washed away quickly."