Mumbai: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has assured that there would be no further road excavation in city as the Monsoon season nears. A recent order from the civic body has reiterated a ban on new road excavations following violations by contractors who continued to dig up even intact roads, defying the municipal commissioner's directives.
This decision aligns with Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani's previous announcement to suspend road excavations to combat air pollution until existing roads are concretised.
During a recent meeting, the commissioner directed the deputy municipal commissioner, Infrastructure, to halt new road excavations immediately. The directive was sent to the chief engineer (Roads) and assistant municipal commissioners in all 25 Mumbai wards, with a provision for citizens to report new excavations to ward offices for potential action.
Deadline For Road Projects
In the order issued by the BMC on March 4, all the pending work of concretisation must conclude by May 31, 2025 to minimize inconvenience to citizens. No new roads will be excavated after February 22, 2025, BMC's recent order on concretisation assured.
BMC's Concretisation
The decision to concretise Mumbai’s roads was taken by former chief minister Eknath Shinde in 2023, to rid the city’s streets of potholes. Of a total road network of 2,050km, approximately 1,000 km has already been concretised.
The BMC has since issued work orders for a total 701km of road length (2,118 roads), including 324 km (698 roads) in the first phase and 377km (1,420 roads) in the second phase. A total of 503 roads are being concretised in the island city alone.
Explaining the rationale behind the circular, Abhijit Bangar, additional municipal commissioner (projects), said that if a 1km road is dug up now, and a fresh road with a 40-50 metre bay is constructed, it would take a long time to concretise each bay, making it challenging for the BMC to meet the May 31 deadline.
