Mumbai: If you can't fix it, drop it: this could well be the template for the BMC's budget planning strategy for today, if one goes by what the civic body has done in the current fiscal. The corporation coolly decided to eliminate 30 per cent of roads originally marked for repairs when it remembered the city had slums and a lot of construction going on -- facts plainly engraved in our collective memory but apparently forgotten by the BMC while drawing up the road repair plan.
Having failed to run a ground check, it realised that many roads could not be restored due to rampant encroachment, work of new rail corridors, underground water mains and other issues completely overlooked at the time of allocating funds, officials said. It was when the contractors complained that there was no road line at many places that the light dawned and the roads neatly dropped.
Now, citizens must make do with spotty roads, partially repaired, rest at the mercy of the inclement Mumbai rains. In September last year, the BMC allocated Rs 1,000 crore for road development. Of this, over Rs 70 crore was for evening out potholes, Rs 550 crore for reconstructing major roads, and Rs 375 crore for minor roads. The work, which has already been decelerated due to construction audits, has further been hindered by encroachments and Metro and Monorail works.
An official from the roads department of the BMC said on the condition of anonymity, "Many roads have been dropped from the contract list. The roads had been included after the recommendations made at ward level, but it is necessary to study them before assigning them for reconstruction." A civic official from eastern suburbs said, "Around five roads in the eastern suburbs, western suburbs and the island city would be dropped, and at many others work won't be carried out completely. For example, he added, work on VN Purav Road in Chembur cannot be finished because most of the area comes under the Navy. The BMC would not carry out any work there."
No road ahead
Roads like E R Road (Bhendi Bazaar) and Sleater Road (Tardeo) have been deleted from the contract list. Jerbai Wadia Road (Parel) and Sewri Koliwada Road would see no repairs due to Monorail work and encroachment problems respectively. "The water works department told us the work being carried out at Sleater Road would end in time. But when we started the reconstruction, they said that underground water mains were damaged and needed to be renewed. So the road was dropped. They should have informed us earlier," said a road official from the city department.
Roads like Ramabai Colony, Mulund and Nardas Nagar and Ram Mitramandal, Bhandup are allotted to private builders under SRA. "Around four roads have been dropped in the eastern suburbs and only 40-45% work has been completed on major roads in the entire city," informed another road official. An official from the western suburbs gave an example of incomplete road works saying, "On a 750-m road, if the work on 350 m is complete, around 250 m has been encroached. We have given the people notices to vacate the area, let's hope they do."
Jijamata Road in the western suburbs is heavily encroached. The contractors had raised questions regarding the completion of 561 minor roads before monsoon and said that only half could be finished. Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar has now asked for optimum number of small roads, major roads and 33 bridges to be smoothened before the monsoon. The project to build 161 new roads in the city was delayed with Swiss auditor SGS directing contractors to redo the job at 22 locations where the quality and execution of work did not meet the norms. Moreover, eight of the nine contractors have been directed to rectify or improve construction material at over two sites.
BMC's standing committee chairman Rahul Shewale said, "Some of the roads have been dropped due to encroachment issues, where the road line cannot be identified. The authority should have studied this before listing out the roads in the reconstruction." He added, "The auditor is doing a good job by keeping a tab on the materials used due to which the city would get good roads. It seems some of the work would be stopped before monsoon to be continued later." He added that by deleting the roads, the project cost would come down. "Work on minor roads has not yet begun. But there would be a problem of completing it because of the same issues. Around 30% of roads would not be done due to this." Despite repeated attempts, Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta and Municipal Commissioner Subodh Kumar remained unavailable for comment.
Rs 1,000 cr: Amount earmarked for development of roads in 2011-2012
Budget forecast
BMC Budget 2012-13, to be announced today, is estimated to be around Rs 25,000 crore.
The civic body is likely to promise:
- completion of repairs of municipal schools (around 1,200)
- installation of virtual classrooms in 400 schools; only 87 have it currently
- completion of water tunnel projects, major pipelines
- concretising 1,940-km road network in the next five years
- building trenches for all utility ducts
- improving garbage collection by bringing in again tracking system
- new garbage compactors for Rs 700 crore
- enhancing all dispensaries in the city
- acquiring reserved plots there would be a special budget allotted
- upgrading Octroi nakas, setting them up with scanners
- hiking water charges by Re 1 per 1000 litres
Budget focus
Mumbaikars assert what the city desperately needs funds for in BMC Budget '12:
Berges Malu, Kala Ghoda resident: New and better pipelines in South Mumbai for proper drinking water are needed, since the old ones are rusting. More money should be allocated to BEST for better public transport facilities.
Dayna Sequeira, architect, Mahim resident: The quality of roads should be improved; potholes fixed. They should not use public money on mere touch-ups.
Sudha Ravishankar, Khar resident: The cost of everything is going up but there is no improvement. With water tax, property tax, road tax etc, no improvement is seen in any of these sectors.
Aftab Siddiqui, activist, Bandra-Khar: Of course, the city wants better roads, but even education should be highlighted. The BMC's working system should be upgraded. They make a lot blunders.
Vijay Gore, Khar resident: Health care has been ignored by all the budgets, unlike other countries. Government hospitals are not able to provide a complete solution to patients, as the influx of people in Mumbai is high. The infrastructure of hospitals should be improved.
Jinal Ghedia, Andheri resident: The markets should be kept clean. Stench is a problem everywhere. Gutters and nallahs should be cleaned regularly.
Saurabh Deshpande, professor: The city needs a better garbage disposal system.
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