'Our roads need time to recover'

In an interview with MiD DAY, Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta explains why potholes keep reappearing on roads; says repair plans have been chalked out

A day after MiD DAY reported on the deplorable condition of the 12 worst roads in Mumbai, we caught up with Aseem Gupta, additional municipal commissioner, who is in charge of maintaining roads, at the BMC headquarters. He seemed pretty impressed with the coverage and welcomed any suggestions and feedback, promising to act on them. He readily answered our questions while in conversation with us, and assured a similar attitude of readiness in the matter of filling up the gaping craters and maintaining the
roads.
u00a0

Digging menace: Constant digging makes the earth loose, as a result
of which water seeps into the ground, causing craters and potholes to
reappear on the surface. file pic

The basic question that every commuter and pedestrian in Mumbai is asking: Why are our roads riddled with potholes?
There are more than two dozen utility services in Mumbai, necessitating pipes and cables that run underneath our roads. Once a road is constructed, it is continuously dug up for different purposes relating to these services. Even a single seepage in the road inundates it with water. Our biggest enemy on the roads is water ufffd the moment water enters the road, it begins to damage it, affecting its quality. We construct roads of quality, but they don't get enough time to recover from the damages they sustain.
We are planning a duct system to improve the situation. The project will be discussed with the municipal commissioner and a report will be ready in a few days. There are 37 utility companies in the city. If we don't allow them to dig, then the citizens will be denied gas, internet, phone lines and other indispensable services. Constant digging makes the earth loose, as a result of which water seeps into the ground, causing craters and potholes to reappear on the surface.

Monsoon is the worst season for roads. What are the special steps you are taking to ensure that Mumbaikars will not have to suffer because of potholes?
We have already started working on the roads. The work will progress in two phases, since the monsoon is nearly two months away. Phase I has already commenced. I have issued tenders, and contractors will be repairing the roads soon. We have allocated Rs 17 crore for the work. The biggest hurdle during monsoons is that rains spoil the filling applied to cover the potholes. Moreover, we can't prevent traffic from plying on the affected roads for long periods of time. Phase II of the work will begin soon. In this phase, we will repair the potholes and examine the trenches. We will try to foresee all possible problems that can crop up in the monsoons, and address them in advance by taking preventive action.

It seems that contractors aren't taken to task as much as they should be. Otherwise why would there be such a persistent problem with potholes?
The problem does not lie with contractors, who do their work. Rather it is the problem of time. Mumbai roads are always chock-a-block. The only time when they are deserted is night, and so we conduct repair work then. But the mix that is used to fill up potholes requires six hours to settle down on the road surface. So the contractors are always in a hurry. Thus there is always some kind of inadequacy in the repair work, as a result of which the potholes come back. To add to our troubles, this repair work cannot be done during the monsoons, because rains may ruin the repair work. So the work has to be completed before the monsoon sets in. If potholes come up during the monsoons on the repaired roads, the contractors will repair them again, free of charge.

Why don't you use some technological means in order to achieve a pothole-free city?
The BMC doesn't mind using new technologies, but we cannot afford to experiment in all the roads. Any firm can try out technologies, and we can give them a patch of a road for a season. If their technology is effective in curbing the problem, we can give them a contract. But these technologies are quite expensive. Initially we would only pay the contractors what we are paying currently to all contractors. If their repair work is effective, we might double the amount next year. I welcome proposals. We are enforcing the recommendations submitted by the Standing Technical Advisory Committee. Last year we used carbon core, but the project failed, perhaps because the mix did not get adequate time to settle. Maybe some spurious matter was added to the mix. The media soon passed the verdict that carbon core was completely ineffectual.

What is your evaluation of the 12 roads that MiD DAY has pointed out as being the worst in the city?
I have already told the chief engineer (roads), to check if these roads are on our top priority list. Even if they aren't, they will be added to the list, and work will commence as soon as possible. I have instructed him to go through the newspaper everyday, and take note of the responses and feedback sent in by readers, so we can incorporate roads that they mention in our list as well. The campaign is sure to benefit the BMC, as well as the citizens of Mumbai.

Pathetic roads in Mira Road
The condition of the roads in Mira Road, where the authorities are hell bent upon collecting toll from the road users of the so-called Western Express Highway, seems to be deteriorating day by day. The traffic is chaotic at any time of the day or night in both the directions and it is the Rule of the lawlessness that prevails. Although there is a police station at the cross road near Shivaji statue where Highway and Mira Bhayandar road intersect there is no effective monitoring of the traffic. Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation can aspire to be at least Navi Mumbai if not Shanghai but the will to improve the infrastructure seems to be totally lacking among the municipal councillors who are anything but the servants of the people. How else do you explain their criminal apathy to the condition of the roads? Prior to his crusade against corruption Anna Hazare had protested against the levy of toll tax but this movement appears to have run out of steam. I wish Hazare again takes up the issue with the powers-that-be once the corruption issue is out of the way.u00a0u00a0
--N S Nelakantan, via e-mail

The 13th worst road
WITH reference to 'Mumbai's 12 worst roads', Mid Day, April 18, well the 13 has to be the 29th Road, Bandra, which starts from Ambedkar Road, where the ICICI bank is situated, to the Waterfield Road at the other end and for the last 20-30 years I don't have the faintest of an idea that this road was done up except for a bad patch work during every monsoon. This road has some very high-end building, paying very high taxes and a very noisy slump at the Waterfield Road end, infested by a few roadside vendors and feel that if the road is laid along with a proper footpath on both sides may be we can get rid of them and bring some discipline to the slump.
-- Shahid Akhtar, via e-mail