5 areas wait for new BMC chief's attention

MUMBAI: Potholed roads and corruption in tendering marked the progress of the roads' department last year. Taking that into account, perhaps, the BMC increased its roads budget by 106% this year from Rs 713 crore to Rs 1,466 crore. Under the cement-concrete road programme, 241 km of road with a width of 18 km will be taken up for concretization every year.
Khar activist Aftab Siddiqui feels special attention should be given to development and maintenance of roads. "The system needs to be as transparent as possible and encourage citizens to actively participate in development projects. We should know about all projects taking place, names and contact numbers of contractors so that we can call them as and when required," she said.
Mihir Pathare, an Andheri resident said numbers of officials in charge should be made public especially during the monsoon. "There was a system in place two years ago when we could send SMSes about a particular road in a bad condition and the BMC was expected to repair that patch in 24 hours. It should be revived and followed up so that there are no potholes on the road," he said.
Moreover, departments such as water, sewerage, storm water drains and roads must coordinate with phone, power and other utility companies so that underground utilities are placed before a road is built/repaired to avoid endless rounds of digging and inconvenience to residents.