Fed up of potshots BMC launches citizen app to fix potholes

Huge potholes appear on city roads during monsoon. File Pic/Shadab Khan

In an attempt to streamline pothole complaints and their quick resolution, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has launched yet another mobile application, Pothole Quickfix. The application was launched in the first week of June and is now available for download for all citizens of Mumbai.

The BMC typically monitors pothole complaints that citizens submit via social media and through the local ward office's control rooms. However, over the past few years, the civic body has frequently developed new digital portals or mobile applications in an attempt to streamline citizens' complaints.

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In 2019, BMC launched a digital portal called ‘My BMC Pothole Fixit', which was also used by the civic body during the monsoon season of 2024 to enable citizens to register complaints about potholes. In 2014, the ‘MCGM 24X7' mobile application was launched to monitor roads, and in 2011, the ‘Voice of Citizens' digital portal was launched to connect with citizens for pothole complaints.

"The older mobile applications or digital portals become outdated, so they are scrapped after their use during the respective monsoon. We have also taken consistent feedback from citizens about user-friendly features, and these have been incorporated in the plans," a senior civic official said.

The Pothole Quickfix application requires only three to four clicks for citizens to register complaints, the official added. "In the earlier applications, citizens would have to add the location of the photos they uploaded along with their complaints. On the contrary, through this mobile application, photos will automatically get geo-tagged with the latitude and the longitude, taking into account the location of the mobile phone that has been used to log into the app," said the BMC official.

The complaints will be tracked by the 227 secondary engineers appointed per electoral ward and will be tracked around the clock. The app also provides a workflow of the open tasks with preset deadlines for closing the complaints. Citizens will be able to track the status of their complaints as ‘Open', ‘In Progress', or ‘Resolved'. "Citizens can also reopen a complaint within 24 hours in case they are not satisfied with the resolution on the ground," another official said.

Earlier mobile applications launched

My BMC Pothole Fixit in 2019
MCGM 24X7 in 2014
Voice of Citizens in 2011