Why Centre's 'Smart City' dreams for Mumbai continue to stare at gaping potholes
How many potholes are there on Mumbai's over 2,000km of roads? The answer is: God knows!
Even by a conservative estimate, which happens to be official data, there are around 300-odd potholes still to be filled across roads "maintained" by Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Public Works Department (PWD) and Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA).
Although it's the BMC that is mainly on the receiving end of people's ire, the PWD, the MMRDA and other municipalities in the MMR are equal "stakeholders". This year alone, potholes have claimed six lives.
Mumbai: Potholes claim 6 lives in 1 month#ITVideoMore videos: https://t.co/Nounxo6IKQ pic.twitter.com/z9PitYVYTS
— India Today (@IndiaToday) July 15, 2018
On July 18, a 35-year-old woman landed in the hospital after she fell off her bike and sustained multiple head injuries, after allegedly hitting a pothole outside Tardeo police station.
Mumbai: Watch how two residents of Mahim are filling potholes. #ReporterDiary Report: @mustafashk pic.twitter.com/3AjLu4OUBt
— India Today (@IndiaToday) July 18, 2018
On July 9, a 40-year-old woman was crushed to death after she fell off a bike in the waterlogged roads of Kalyan and was was thrown in front of a speeding bus. She died on the spot.
Even though the PWD minister feels that potholes alone can't be blamed for these deaths, the pockmarked roads that lay in front of us clearly show why bikers lose control of their vehicles and fall down.
The 'hole' story
The city is so sick of talking about potholes that the deep-gaping gashes are no longer called that.While newspapers long back started calling them "giant craters", even the civic department last year decided to replace the term with bad patches. Of course, the name change hasn't made a difference in the lives of Mumbaikars. Instead, the problem is only getting worse. And now that the season of potholes is on us again, there is no escaping the ravages.
The city's first tryst with the "pothole epidemic" was in the 1990s, but with time and ever-increasing vehicular traffic, the problem has increased manifold. At one point, one of the solutions offered was to replace the asphalt road surface with concrete, since the latter is considered more durable.
With that in mind, the civic authorities decided to take on the humongous task of converting the roads from asphalt to concrete. But reconstruction of roads requires a number of no-objection certifcates from various departments for road diversions, closure of lanes to vehicular traffic etc. So far, the government has managed to complete only 40 per cent to 50 per cent of the target.
The rest of the roads are still asphalt-surfaced. So, these roads need resurfacing every two-three years to keep them in working condition. Last year, the BMC spent Rs 1,700 crore for resurfacing of roads, but the rains washed away most of the shoddy make-up.
Then there is the constant digging of roads for purposes like laying underground power lines, broadband cables, and water pipes, making matters worse. On top of that, there is no coordination between water supply agencies, electricity discoms, telephone companies, piped gas companies as well as the Metro rail authorities.
Poor management between authorities and service providers is making life more and more difficult for the ordinarty citizens. There is always some or the other agency digging up roads at various places across Mumbai.
Politician-contractor-bureaucrat nexus
Last year, the BMC decided to punish contractors for shoddy road work and identified six big names in the road construction business.
The BMC's move to blacklist contractors and file cases against them was welcomed by many, thinking this would act as a warning to others trying to fool the government. Interestingly, all the "blacklisted" contractors got anticipatory bail even before the police could lay hands on them. One of the contractors later even bagged a major contract for Metro construction by the MMRDA. The BMC has been trying to "blacklist" contractors for a long time now, but has failed miserably.
Often, contractors don't even bother to follow the road designs made on the basis of traffic intensity and other data as suggested by special consultants. On other occasions, the basic requirement of four layers of construction (material) used to make roads durable is blatantly overlooked. There was a time when the BMC had its own asphalt testing laboratories to detect sub-standard materials used in road construction. But these labs are no longer in operation.
Now, contractors need to get a certificate from private labs approved by the BMC. Which speaks a lot about the control over contractors and their activities. For routine maintenance, pothole-riddled roads need 60mm-62mm layer of asphalt resurfacing, but most contractors get away with quick fixes of 20mm-25mm layers. The BMC even started a pothole-tracking system wherein one could click a picture of potholes and upload it on its website. The website also had the provision to ascertain the exact measurement of the potholes. This was also used to keep a tab on contractors who were given the responsibility to fill up those potholes.
The tracking system, however, was shut down more than a year ago as it created more chaos than solving the purpose. If this is the situation in Mumbai, imagine the plight of residents in Kalyan, Dombivali, Vasai, Virar, Thane and Navi Mumbai, which have their own municipal corporations now. As expected, civic amenities in these areas are as bad as Mumbai, if not worse.
Kalyan, where five people died this year due to accidents owning to potholes and bad roads, is the worst affected.
Interestingly, all these areas are part of the Centre's much-hyped Smart City project.
Well, till the time the politician-bureaucrat-contractor nexus continues to pocket money for roads never built and potholes never filled, India's smart city dreams will remain a "dumb" project.