Mumbai, July 18: Taking a leaf from past fatal pothole incidents, which occurred in the neighbouring cities of Mumbai, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to levy a hefty fine on roads contractors. As per the new move, the Mumbai civic body will fine Rs 1 lakh a day to the road contractors for failing to maintain roads during monsoons. According to news reports, a contractor of one of the most prominent roads of Mumbai, the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd link Road, is the first one to be fined.

As per the BMC officials, the contract was awarded to a joint venture --BPSCPL-Vishal -- and was given Rs 150 crores to construct the new road before the onset of monsoon. Also, as per the tender clause, if the part of any road is not repaired, then it has to be maintained by the contractor during the monsoon. However, BMC officials noticed that the Ghatkopar-Mankhurd road was still in a bad condition and the contractor had failed to take any temporary measures to repair the potholes. Hence, they decided to impose the fine on the contractor.

But the BMC councillors have accused the civic body of wasting too much time since BMC waited till July, the second month of monsoon, to take the action against errant contractors.  Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party councillor was quoted in the Times of India as saying, "The road’s condition is very bad, and we have repeatedly been complaining. The road is filled with sludge."

Mumbai and its adjoining regions have been receiving incessant rains. Due to which several roads of Mumbai have developed potholes, making the traffic moving at a snail's pace. Besides this, fatal accidents have also been reported in Kalyan. So far, five people have lost their lives after falling into a pothole. Sanjay Nirupam, the Mumbai Congress President, has also started a campaign #Chalo_Potholes_Ginne" or " Let's count potholes" aimed at grabbing the attention of authorities and the ruling party towards the poor condition of the roads in the city.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2018 11:04 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).