CRATER MUMBAI - Audit confirms what we all knew: Pothole repairs a sham; 7 contractors fined only Rs 39L:The Times of India

A Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) audit of potholes confirmed many citizens' concern that contractors are using low-quality material for pothole repairs, due to which they keep resurfacing after its rains. A probe ordered by municipal commissioner Ajoy Mehta found that the contractors used poor quality material or committed other lapses at 27 places in the city. The civ ic authorities collectively imposed a Rs 39 lakh fine on the contractors.

Mehta had ordered the audit of pothole repairs during the monsoon after he learnt that the contractors had done a shoddy job at some places. Seven road contractors had secured con tracts of pothole repairs in seven zones in the city, which is divided into 24 administrative wards. Two contactors entered into a joint venture to secure the contracts in each zone.Shaunak Infrastructure had secured tenders in four zones along with its partner. The city saw several pot holes reappear at several places after the dry spell during the monsoon. The BMC's Voice of Citizen website shows that 3,479 pothole problems were reported, of which 3,089 were repaired.The civic chief was upset with the problem and or dered a detailed probe into the repairs despite the road department's claim that the potholes reported were fewer than last year.

Civic officials found that bags containing the cold mix material did not have the manufacturer's details, the manufacture's engineer was not available to verify its quality during work, and at two places, the contractor did not have separate godowns to store pothole-related material.

The ward road engineers randomly collected samples from few godowns for testing at the civic authority's material testing laboratory in Worli. They failed the test at three places. The road department imposed a Rs 1 lakh fine on each ward for the absence of the engineer at the time of work and improper storage of cold mix material bags. The contractors were also fined Rs 5 lakh each (three joint venture companies) as the samples failed the test.

TIMES VIEW:

The BMC should seriously consider hiking the penalty. The fine should be commensurate with the guilt ­ the pain that it causes taxpaying citizens ­ and should hurt cash-rich contractors.