Urban News

With lack of funds currently, will concreting of roads take a back seat?

We have discussed various possibilities with the finance department and we will now do a smaller part of the work targeted earlier. We are definitely not getting Rs 1,200 crore for 150 km of roads, the earlier target of the roads department. But we have managed to get a substantial sum sanctioned. I am happy with the current allocation. We will do less than 100 km of concretisation this year but it will be at least 50 per cent of the earlier target.

Will the BMC persist with the Carboncor technology for roads though it has failed earlier?

Surprisingly, after the standing technical advisory committee on roads gave the nod to Carboncor technology, the company has not yet come forward to show their product. We have written to the company saying they can come with their proposals. However, one needs to also see that work is executed well to succeed. From what I have been hearing, it seems at the time the technology was adopted, for some reason, not many were well-versed in using it. But we are still open to the technology as per STAC recommendations and are also considering 2-3 other technologies. But we have made it mandatory that whoever comes forth with new technologies for pothole repair needs to first show us how these will work.

Will contractors who have done shoddy work be blacklisted? Will they get contracts in future?

Though we have identified some contractors and blacklisted them, it should be understood this process takes a long time. We should work towards speeding it up so that such contractors can be brought to book faster. Also, from now whether or not a road falls under the defect liability period (DLP), the BMC will investigate road patches gone bad. Wherever the road base is not as per design we will take action against those contractors. Usually it is only roads under the DLP for which contractors can be hauled, but now the administration will carry out technical investigations and if road bases are found substandard then the contractors can be pulled up.

Is it true that since pothole repairs are handled at ward level, accountability is often compromised?

A system needs to be devised where ward-level audits are possible. Unlike last year, contractors have been appointed wardwise for road maintenance. Inconsistent or shoddy work can be punished by local level audits. We will also devise a system where head office will check the pothole filling work done at ward level too.

Now that a new caretaker policy is being framed for maintenance of shrinking open spaces, how do you ensure that this time it is not misused by private parties?

For the BMC, both money and manageability are a problem currently, in case of caretaker policy for open spaces. But in the new caretaker policy we have ensured full transparency and most importantly the citizen does not in any way lose access to these spaces. Whatever drawbacks the earlier caretaker policy had, we have made sure this time the policy is foolproof.