Urban News

Besides publishing a booklet about each corporator’s performance during the five-year term, each will now have a web page of his or her own. The page will show the corporator’s bio-data and details of work done in his area, issues raised by him in BMC meetings, his attendance in meetings, his spending of corporators’ funds etc.

“The website will help the tech-savvy young generation and the educated but busy middle class to asses the performance of the corporator online,” said Shewale.

However, the decision has raised eye-brows within the BMC as many corporators have still not started using the laptop that was given to them in October 2009 with an aim to reduce the use of paper. The idea was first mooted by former municipal commissioner Johny Joseph who suggested that use of heaps of agenda papers for general body meetings, standing and improvements committee meetings and various other such meetings, can be eliminated if these can be emailed to corporators in a PDF format. 

More than a year on, corporators continue to use hard copies and only a few have even opened an email account of their own. Former standing committee chairman and current MLA Ravindra Waikar said that in most cases the laptops are being used by the children of the corporators. “Most corporators are unable to use the laptops effectively. But their children are definitely making good use of the laptop,” said Waikar, who already has his website.

Shewale said that each corporator will appoint an IT expert who will regularly keep updating the website. “We are aware that not many corporators are using the laptops given to them by the BMC using a fund of Rs 1.2 crore. Each laptop was purchased at a cost of Rs 52, 000. But in case of the website, an IT person will keep updating it so the corporator will not have to do anything except provide him with details that have to be updated,” said Shewale.

The BMC first decided to try out GPR machines to detect cavities beneath roads and leaking utilities that cause the cavities following a cave-in along the arterial Peddar Road in April 2009. After two pilot projects last year to assess the feasibility of the machines, the plan has now been scrapped. The reason: Engineers from BMC’s roads department were unable to understand the readings produced by the machines.

Avinash Rao, executive engineer of the department, said they used the machines at various spots, but none of the engineers was able to interpret the readings. “Fortunately, we did not buy these machines or else they would have been stuck with them. VJTI College of engineering has a GPR that they used on an experimental basis on Saat Rasta at Jacob Circle, Byculla. Structwel Engineering too took it up as an experiment, but in both cases, we could not see the results. We even tried to get a software that can interpret the data, but without any success,” said Rao.

A portion of Peddar Road near Cabdury Junction caved in during April 2008 while a concrete slab on the busy Shravan Yashwant Chowk at Kalachowkie gave way in February this year. As recently as December 7, a section of the road in Kandivali, paved with interlocking tiles, caved in. All these incidents have been caused by leaks in underground utilities like water pipelines, storm water drains and sewer lines. 

While sources said GPR was abandoned in February, the department has not been able to look for an alternative technology in the 10 months since. Additional Municipal Commissioner Aseem Gupta said the department has floated an expression of interest to invite firms with suitable technologies. “This is a technologically complex issue as it involves detecting underground situations which cannot be seen with the naked eye. We are trying to find better ways and have asked companies to come forward and present their technology. We will then go to the Standing Technical Advisory Committee on roads for their approval before purchasing any technology,” said Gupta.

N V Merani, chairman of this BMC-appointed committee, said unless ageing underground utilities are replaced no real solution can be worked out to prevent cavities from forming under the roads. “There are several experts in the committee, but no one is aware of any other technology that can map underground utilities and detect cavities. Till the century-old underground pipes are completely replaced, the problem will persist,” said Merani.

Old storm water drains are being replaced under the BRIMSTOWAD project and sewers under the Mumbai Sewage Disposal Project. Projects to replace parts of mains from the dams are undertaken every year.