As the city got some relief from the heavy showers after a week of continuous downpour, the BMC decided to attend to over 500 potholes on Wednesday.
The BMC’s pothole tracking system has detected a total of 1,626 potholes this monsoon season. Of these, the BMC claimed to have attended to 319 potholes. The BMC is hoping to attend to the rest in the next couple of days.
According to civic officials, on Wednesday they covered some 200 potholes during the day; the officials planned to cover the rest during the night, when traffic movement was lesser.
“The contractors couldn’t fill potholes while it was raining heavily, as there was a chance of the material getting washed away. If we get a few more dry days, we will be able to finish the pothole-repair works within 48 hours. But if it rains again, there would be a problem,” said a civic engineer.
The BMC has preferred cold-mix technology to fill potholes instead of the hot-mix material. Cold-mix technology has a greater shelf-life. However, allegations of inferior quality cold-mix material being used for pothole filling has cast doubts over its effectiveness. The civic body has sanctioned `50 crore for filling up of potholes.
***
BMC contractors won’t be paid for faulty pumps
Bhagwan Parab
Mumbai, June 19
Taking serious note of breakdown of dewatering pumps during wate-r-logging, the BMC has decided not to pay contractors.
The BMC has identified over 180 flooding spots in the city and installed nearly 220 dewatering pumps to deal with localised flooding. However, in a review taken last week, the civic officials found that more than 50 per cent of the dewatering pumps were not operational, leading to heavy water-logging in several areas. “We have decided not to pay contractors, whose dewatering pumps were not working. They will not be given their payments till June 10. Contractors have also been asked to get their pumps in working condition at the earliest,” said Laxman Vhatkar, director, engineering services and projects.
According to civic officials, at some places, labourers were either not available or didn’t know where the water that would be pumped, should be thrown.
Contractors were found throwing the pumped water into nearby areas, resulting in water-logging.
Civic chief Sitaram Kunte assured action if contractors were found throwing water at spots, other than drains.