Mumbai's pothole saga continues. An extensive report in this paper has shown that instead of responding to calls by citizens about the potholes across Mumbai, BMC engineers want to know why they were not told that their numbers were being made public as per the Bombay High Court order to make the numbers of those responsible for bad roads available to the public
Mumbai's pothole saga continues. An extensive report in this paper has shown that instead of responding to calls by citizens about the potholes across Mumbai, BMC engineers want to know why they were not told that their numbers were being made public as per the Bombay High Court order to make the numbers of those responsible for bad roads available to the public.
So, the civic authorities did that in a slew of advertisements published in newspapers across the city, but without informing a single civic engineer about the action.
The result was startled, irked and then, very angry civic engineers who were not pleased with the large number of calls they were receiving from the public. First of all, like pothole repairs, the execution of the honorable HC’s orders has been shoddily done. A couple of numbers in the advertisement have been wrongly printed, which is simply inexcusable.
If the civic authorities were serious about following the HC order, then, the least they could do is be spot on with the numbers. Proper communication was also required between the civic engineers and the BMC before the said advertisement was printed.
The engineers simply cannot be caught unawares like this. They should have been told that once the call comes in, they also need to know how to answer, what to answer and how exactly to respond to the public’s ire and queries.
Early responses show that engineers, wasted their time fielding unrelated calls and sometimes were too angry or riled by the public.
There had to be a better way to handle the situation, may be three official numbers manned by personnel who vet the calls and then direct the caller to the engineer. A system had to be put in place, instead of a myopic, hasty response, which is proving counterproductive. Let us get serious about the pothole problem.
From wrong numbers, to ignorant engineers, shoddy workmanship and quick fix repairs, it all smacks of a patchwork job, with a casual attitude.
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