Mumbai: After the Bombay High Court (HC) observed that municipal corporations should be held liable for pothole-related losses, social activists and citizen groups argued that the officials responsible for road maintenance must be held personally accountable, with compensation recovered directly from them. Meanwhile, the BMC on Saturday claimed that 361 potholes remain to be filled and assured that they will be cleared soon.
Court Slams BMC For Negligence
The Bombay HC, during a suo motu PIL on the poor state of roads in the city and MMR, sharply criticised the BMC and other civic bodies on Friday for failing to tackle the persistent pothole problem. The court suggested they should be ready to compensate victims of accidents and fatalities caused by such hazardous conditions.
Anil Galgali, an activist said, "it is responsibilities of the dedicated officials to detect the potholes in their respective wards and fill it immediately. They should be made to pay for their negligence."
Citizen Voices Against Taxpayer-Funded Compensation
Dhaval Shah, founder of the Lokhandwala and Oshiwara Citizens Association, said, “Andheri’s K-West ward recorded the highest number of potholes. Forget 48 hours—BMC takes at least a week to fill them. If compensation is paid from BMC funds, it's ultimately taxpayers’ money. Instead, the officials responsible should be penalised and barred from promotion for life.”
Vinod Gholap, chairperson of Fight for Right Foundation, said, “Despite tall promises from the BMC, roads are still riddled with potholes and citizens continue to suffer. If officials simply did their duty, people wouldn’t face such inconvenience.”
Pothole Data Shows Scale Of Crisis
According to real-time data on the BMC’s official website, 14,386 potholes were reported in Mumbai between June 4 and September 13. Of these, 3,951 were found to be unrelated to potholes.
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As of Saturday evening, the BMC had filled 14,025 potholes, while 1,095 are on roads managed by other agencies and fall outside its jurisdiction. In the past month alone, 1,369 potholes were recorded—112 of them reported on Saturday.
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