Worli resident Ajay Singh has clicked pictures revealing water pipelines placed directly onto the road without mandatory encasing, thereby increasing chances of water logging, potholes
BMC, BMC contractors, shoddy work exposed,water pipelines, Mumbai news, Mumbai, Ajay Singh, Worli resident, pictures, road repair work, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Prabhadevi, Kashinath Dhuru Marg
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) contractors have flouted rules during the road repair and widening work, which is currently being carried out in various parts of the city.
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A Worli citizen, Ajay Singh, has exposed their shoddy work by taking pictures of pipelines that have been laid directly onto the road at Prabhadevi and Worli without appropriate casing. Ideally, pipelines should be laid down with proper encasements (construction of cement chamber) to avoid waterlogging.
How does this affect citizens?
“During road repair and widening work, contractors are expected to lay pipelines that are properly aligned to prevent waterlogging on roads that, in turn, are a major cause of potholes across the city,” said Singh.
Ajay Singh visited Worli and Kashinath Dhuru Marg at Prabhadevi, where contractors had resurfaced the roads. He found several irregularities in the work. Pics courtesy/Ajay Singh
He added, “Last week, road repair work began at Prabhadevi at Kashinath Dhuru Marg. However, I visited the site and found irregularities in the work. What is the use of doing this work and spending public money if there will be waterlogging again during monsoon? Even the road engineers should be present at the site to monitor the work.
After laying the pipelines on the roads, they have covered them up immediately so no one notices these irregularities. The same thing has been done at GK Marg at Worli Naka.” At present, road repair work worth Rs 2,500 crore is underway across Mumbai.
The repair and construction work of around 900 roads in the city began in February 2014. It is expected to complete in 2016. The BMC has made a five-year master plan under which more than R7,500 crore will be spent on roads in the next two years.
Shoddy job invites criticism
Opposition leader Devendra Amberkar has slammed the corporation for the shoddy work. “The civic body should take stringent action against these contractors as every year crores of the taxpayers’ money is spent to build better roads. But every year, the results are the same.”
Social Activist Nikhil Desai criticised the corporation for not taking enough steps to monitor the work. “It’s very important that the BMC checks the work that is underway. They are spending public money by awarding contracts but if the quality is poor, what is the point of spending crores of rupees?”
BMC speak
When contacted, Chief Engineer of Road department, Ashok Pawar, said, “It is mandatory for contractors to do proper encasement of pipelines. It’s the responsibility of concerned Executive Engineer and Deputy Chief Engineer to monitor the work.”
When asked about the issue, Sanjay Darade, deputy chief engineer (city) of road department told sunday mid-day, “If such a thing is happening then it’s a very serious issue. I will look into the matter and ask our engineers to check the facts.” Despite repeated attempts, Additional Municipal Commissioner, SVR Srinivas was unavailable for comment.
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