It has almost become a cliché to talk about the pockmarked roads in the city, especially the way in which practically every ward at present has several disfigured roads which gape like open sores. It seems that different civic and some private agencies have decided to take on a mind boggling array of projects — for arch drains, for new roads, for sewerage, for water supply, for laying of gas, phone and other utility lines — all at one go, and are all digging with furious simultaneity. While such a logistical nightmare throws up important questions about the civic body’s organisational acumen, officials are still dragging their feet when it comes to penalising their contractors, many of whom flagrantly violate the road safety norms that have been laid down for them.

Even the fact that the roads have claimed several lives isn’t enough to wake up the civic body from its deep slumber and push the nose of its contractors’ to the proverbial grindstone. Mumbai has a 1,900-km long network of roads, of which 500 km is concretised. The remainder is made with asphalt, tar or paver blocks.