Large-scale irregularities in the road repair works report have not only exposed corruption, but also raised serious question marks over the success of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) ambitious master plan for city roads. Works that were a part of it have been found to be riddled with anomalies.
The civic body’s preliminary report into the road repair works has revealed severe discrepancies. In the 34 works that were inspected, there were on an average 53 per cent irregularities in those that were executed. The inquiry committee inspected several major roads like Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Road (E, F/S & F/N wards) Musafir Khana Road (A), Chandanwadi Road (C), Navroji Hill Road no 9 (B), Sitaram Podar Road (C), Dattaram Lad Marg (E), Acharya Donde Marg (F/S), Jerbai Wadia Road (F/S), VB Worlikar Marg (G/S), Madan Mohan Malviya Road (T), CST Road (H/E) and City International Road (K/W). The BMC had planned to improve some of these roads as a part of its master plan.
The best example of a discrepancy is the repair of Dr Ambedkar Road, which was awarded to M/s RK Madhani at the contract cost of Rs 113.99 crore. The work was supposed to be carried out in patches with reconstruction of broken CC panels and improvement of side strips. The report has said that while the repairs of Dr Ambedkar Road have not been completed yet, there are discrepancies in road sub-base layers. “The thickness of wet mix macadam and granular sub base layers is found lesser in thickness at two locations. The percentage of overall crust found on site is ranging differently from the design crust,” said the report. Following the Bombay high court’s directives to improve the poor roads conditions, the BMC three years ago had come out with a Rs 7,000-crore plan to resurface the city roads. As per the plan, cement and asphalt roads were given priority for restoration in terms of traffic density and their conditions.
Top Shiv Sena leaders, including Yuva Sena chief Aditya Thackeray and mayor Snehal Ambekar, had undertaken inspection tours across the city to check the progress of these road works. “The contractors have fooled them right under their nose,” said leader of opposition Pravin Chheda (Congress). “In case of Dr Ambedkar Road, there was no construction, just spot repairs. The discrepancies have shown that the contractor has completely swindled the BMC. It also shows the failure of BMC’s master plan.”
Manoj Kotak, BJP group leader, said instead of a master plan, there is a need to provide neat roads to Mumbaikars, on which they can walk and drive.
