Mumbai sees 68 per cent drop in pothole complaints ahead of Ganeshotsav

Rapid action on potholes has begun ahead of Ganesharsquos aagman arrival in the city the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporationrsquos BMC official public data showed on Friday Within five days a 68 per cent dip was seen as 158 pothole grievances remained across Mumbai on Friday down from 491 on August 17 Meanwhile figures for resolved pothole grievances in the same period jumped from 7002 to 8029 a 15 per cent surgeA pothole on the flyover outside Dadar West station File picAshish Rajepopcorn numberSept 14 descDay Ganeshotsav begins classDefaultRepair responsibilityResponsibility for repair and the corresponding cost is decided by a particular roadrsquos liability Newer roads with an ongoing Defect Liability Period DLP are to be repaired by the same contractor who constructed them Roads with no DLP are repaired by the BMC through an appointed contractorGanesh pandal concernsNaresh Dahibawkar chairman Ganesh Mandal Sarvajanik Samanvay SamitilsquoWe met the mayor on August 14 to represent concerns of all major pandals Potholes pose a major concern during aagman and visarjan as they can damage the idol in transit The mayor has directed civic officials to take appropriate action Our pandal volunteers are coordinating with the respective ward officials and we will follow up on the action in a meeting with officials and the mayor next week Other concerns like deployment of mobile toilets etc will also be discussedrsquoFile picsShadab KhanPothole data June 10 Aug 21Total pothole grievances 8187Resolved 8029Pending 158Flagged in last 21 days 3376Resolved in last 5 days 1027The summarised pothole figures are constituted from various grievance sources My BMC Marg WhatsApp X BMC web portal 1916 helpline and InstagramWards with the most pothole grievances since June figures are of grievances resolvedhellipM East 474S 500R Central 304M West 383L 363OfficialSpeakA civic officiallsquoRegular pothole repair work is ongoing to address the concerns of Ganesh pandals Wardlevel road engineers are coordinating with respective pandals We are already encountering much less pothole work this year due to the concreting of many roads Many pothole grievances this monsoon came from roads that are less than nine metres wide which are yet to be concretedrsquoCrater grievances in the city have declined by 68 per cent File picPrefest prepLast week the Brihanmumbai Public Ganeshotsav Coordination Committee stated that it had met Mayor Ritu Tawde and urged the BMC to fix potholes before large Ganesh idols are carried to their pandals in preparation for the festival This request came as part of the annual preparations done by the committee in coordination with the Maharashtra government and local municipal corporations to ensure roads are smooth for incoming idols ldquoIdols are to be brought to pandals the latest by seven days prior to the start of the 10day festivalrdquo said committee chairman Naresh DahibawkarHow potholes are filledAs per experienced civic officials repairs depend on the size Small craters can be filled directly while larger ones require a durable base filling with around 32 mm of mastic asphalt as the top layer Mastic asphalt mdash a durable material used for most potholes mdash is prepared at 1520 sites across Mumbai and requires a special highheating cooker to keep it at a workable temperature Due to the high temperature of the material the pothole repair work can be carried out in dry and mild rainy weather Once a pothole is repaired with mastic asphalt it is good for at least two yearsOfficial data releasedThe potholespecific official data comes from the BMCrsquos pothole grievance portal launched for public disclosure of potholes in the city Civic officials say that the dynamic portal receives entries for all pothole grievances mdash citizenflagged and at the civic bodyrsquos selfdetection BMC has specified on the portal that the lsquoPortal Grievances Summaryrsquo is ldquofrom June 10 2026 onwardsrdquo