Mumbai’s monsoon bogey, potholes have started mushrooming on the roads once again, and we are only in the first flush of the rains. A report in this paper yesterday exposed the Public Works Department’s (PWD) hollow claim that they have done impeccable pre-monsoon work. The pictures that accompany the report show the pockmarked state of the Western Express Highway (WEH) between Dahisar and Bandra, even though it has not even been one month since repairs were undertaken there at the cost of Rs 2 crore.

That such reports do not even provoke surprise is a sorry comment on the state of our roads and people’s lack of faith in the authorities. Instead, there is a sense of déjà vu. Although citizens have been let down year after year, this kind of attitude will not help. We must not allow the authorities to get away with such shoddy work just because this is what we are used to. We must expect and demand better.