Mumbai’s tar roads see 8,000-plus pothole complaints in 2 months amid Rs 17K cr concretisation

Mumbai has received more than 8,000 pothole complaints during the monsoon, with the majority concerning bituminous or tar roads that have not yet been concretised, even as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) continues its Rs 17,000-crore road concretisation project.

Between 10 June and the afternoon of 20 August, the civic body received 8,032 pothole-related complaints across the city’s 26 wards and reported resolving 7,829 of them.

Last year, the BMC had recorded more than 8,600 pothole complaints by 15 August.

The eastern suburbs accounted for the largest share of complaints. S ward in Bhandup recorded 471, followed by M/East ward, covering Govandi, Deonar and Mankhurd, with 461.

M/West ward, covering Chembur and Tilak Nagar, recorded 374 complaints, while L ward, covering Kurla and Saki Naka, reported 357.

At the other end, A ward, covering Churchgate and Fort, recorded 61 complaints, followed by D ward, covering Malabar Hill, with 62, and C ward with 69.

More than 5,000 complaints were registered through the My BMC Marg forum, over 1,500 through WhatsApp and more than 800 through X.

Most potholes on roads yet to be concretised

The pothole complaints are largely from the city’s existing bituminous road network, rather than roads that have already been converted to concrete.

The BMC launched its Rs 17,000-crore road concretisation programme in 2022, with a target of replacing more than 700 km of the city’s 2,050 km road network with concrete.

Before road works were suspended for the monsoon, 475 km had been completely concretised and another 101.91 km partially concretised, according to civic data.

BMC Commissioner Ashwini Bhide said the number of potholes had declined because of the concretisation work, but acknowledged that potholes remained on stretches yet to be converted.

“The number of potholes has reduced owing to road concretisation this year. However, we definitely have some bituminous stretches where we have potholes,” Bhide told The Indian Express.

She said civic teams were working around the clock to repair potholes identified on these stretches.

“The potholes will, however, still keep the roads patchy. Once the roads are concretised, it will be taken care of,” she said.

A senior civic official also said the number of complaints alone should not be treated as the sole measure of the problem, arguing that the severity of potholes had declined compared with last year.

“We have observed that the quantity of mastic to fix potholes is much lower than what had been used last year in the same period. This is an indication of the fact that the potholes are less severe,” the official said.

The BMC said 99 per cent of potholes are repaired using mastic and has deployed 65 mastic cookers across its 26 wards this year, including 52 owned by the civic body and 13 rented.

Officials said some potholes were also linked to depressions around trenches dug for utility works.

“Wherever there has been recent trenching work and as the trench settles, we have observed higher pothole complaints in these locations,” an official said.

The current monsoon complaints therefore concern a road network that is still partly awaiting conversion, while the BMC maintains that the completed concrete stretches are less prone to the recurring pothole damage seen on bituminous roads.