The BMC went about preparing Mumbai’s roads for the upcoming monsoons much in advance this year, even categorising roads by priority and flooding and making repair timelines around them. As of 31 May, while it claims to have repaired all 114 Priority I roads, by their own admission they have been able to repair only 33% of the 268 Priority II roads in the city.
Each year, the city faces chronic waterlogging and brutal traffic jams due to potholes, broken roads, uneven paver blocks, and garbage and gutters overflowing. The Quint stepped out for a spot-check of the condition of Mumbai’s roads, one day before monsoons are officially set to hit the island city on 10 June 2017.
What Rubbish!
The garbage collection system of the city is failing – and spilling over its roads now. In areas like Behrampada, Bandra station, Kurla, Marol and many areas in the suburbs as you go north, broken BMC garbage bins lay uncleaned for weeks, as birds, insects and rodents make their way to the heap around them. Come monsoons, these areas, usually in poor neighbourhoods, will transform into a dangerous breeding ground for mosquitoes, skin infections and diseases.
Saki Naka
Andheri
Vikhroli
Puddles, Potholes and Paverblocks
While the BMC has satisfactorily completed repairing most of the main roads, the arterial roads and areas inside neighbourhoods continue to suffer. In areas where waterlogging will necessarily happen every year, the BMC has not taken extra steps to change the status quo. Additionally, even repairs made recently have started showing signs of wear and tear.
Khar
Bandra
Azad Maidan
Bhandup
Andheri
Marol Railway Station
Grant Road
Navi Mumbai
Western Express Highway
Azad Maidan
- 01/03An open drain on Linking Road, Bandra. (Photo: Pallavi Prasad)
- 02/03A drain caves near Vile Parle station. (Photo: Pallavi Prasad)
- 03/03A drain caves in, slowly creating a manhole at Dadar. (Photo: Pallavi Prasad)
Other areas visited: The stretch outside Andheri railway station (East) and Gandhi Market in Dadar get flooded each year. However, open drains and debris still dot the scene proving no extra steps were taken by the BMC to secure these areas. Pre-monsoon work is going on in the Ghatkopar-Makhurd stretch, Waterfield road, Saat Raasta and Worli, days after deadline. Repair work on the SV Road – a crucial road which stretches from Bandra to Andheri – was completed, but the low quality paver blocks have already started giving in.
Dadar
Malad
Metro All The Way
To add to the usual miseries of Mumbai roads (Mithi, potholes, drains etc), digging work for not one, but two ambitious metro lines are underway. The Metro III line runs for 33 kms across the city while the Metro II line runs from Dahisar in the north to Mandale in the east for almost 18 kms.
Huge stretches on these routes have been under construction for months now, with more than 5,000 trees being cut to pave way. However, with the rains just round the corner, deep trenches barricaded by the Metro boards of both lines remain open, increasing the likelihood of deluge, breeding pools for insects, loose root soil overflowing onto the roads and also damage to the progress of construction itself.
Churchgate-Bandra-Andheri
So aware is the Mumbai Police of the road conditions and the problems the citizens will face come 10 June, including loss of lives and livelihood in the worst scenarios, that they have put out a public announcement, which resignedly claims “monsoon and potholes are synonymous.”
But, do they really have to be synonymous, year after year?
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