Mumbai: Members of the standing committee on Wednesday, cutting across party lines, came down on the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for the delay in road works, and said that they are not even getting an explanation from the administration.
An inquiry has been ordered into the repair works that were approved by the committee, but were deleted from the list.
Congress’ Ravi Raja alleged that over 75 works worth over ₹100 crore were quietly taken off the repairs’ list at the behest of the municipal commissioner.
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Samajwadi Party’s Raiz Shaikh produced a roads department’s reply that failed to mention the reason for the delay. “When I enquired about the status of a road, where the work order was given in last February, the department merely said that works are on. They didn’t even bother to offer an explanation for the two-year delay.”
Bharatiya Janata Party’s Prabhakar Shinde suggested that the committee refuse to sanction till the roads department provides details about the status of road works in the city.
Rajeshree Shirwadkar was upset that after cement concretisation was inaugurated in her area, she found that the road will be just asphalted. “If the road has been approved for the concretisation, I will not allow merely asphalting of the road. I will rip the asphalt off if they dare to do it.”
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The corporators also expressed displeasure over the amount of money being spent on consultants. “When we give opinion, they don’t bother to even hear us, and then they pay huge sums to consultants,” said Mr. Shinde.
Sena’s Rajul Patel questioned why the BMC needs to appoint consultants, when it is clear that they never bother to visit roads.
BJP’s Abhijeet Samant said that concretised works are so shoddy in his Vile Parle ward that Captain Vinayak Gore Road had developed holes within six months even though such roads are expected to have a shelf life of 20 years. “Will the BMC not fix responsibility and act against such officials who approved such works?”