Over Rs 2,000cr spent, but potholes still emerge killer :The Times of India

Teen Pillion Rider Dies After Bike Hits Submerged Pothole on JVLR

Despite the BMC having spent over Rs 2,000 crore on road repairs prior to this monsoon, citizens report ed 2,000-plus June, and one of potholes since June, and one of these claimed has the life of a 16year-old boy from Marol. It was the first pothole-related death reported this year.

After completing his admission formalities at a Bhandup college on Tuesday , Prakash Bilhore was returning home with his cousin Ram (23) when the bike hit a water-filled 2ftwide pothole near MIDC-Seepz Gate No 3 on the Jogeshwari Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR).Prakash, who was riding pillion, got thrown off the bike.Passersby rushed the duo to Holy Spirit Hospital, but Prakash died en route. Ram was administered stitches on the left side of his head.

While the teenager's father Deepak claimed the accident took place due to the crater-like pothole, the police are yet to file a case. “We have made a diary entry of the incident. An FIR will be registered against the authorities concerned after we record the survivor's statement,“ said senior inspector Vi las Chavan of Aarey sub police station. “The cousins were returning home around 2pm after completing Prakash's first-year diploma admission formalities at Navjeevan Education Society Polytechnic College when the bike fell into a pothole.“ Ram told the cops that as it was raining heavily , he was riding the bike at a slow pace.

This year, the BMC website, http:www.voiceofcitizen.com, has recorded 2,330 potholes till July 30, of which 148 are on arterial roads. The maximum number of potholes--25--on main roads were reported from L ward, which covers Kurla and Chunabhatti. The BMC claims to have attended to 138 of these.

Of the 2,064 potholes reported on ward-level roads, the civic body claims to have attended to 1,925. The remaining complaints registered by citizens are on roads not managed by the BMC.

During this year's pre-monsoon work, the BMC had focused on repairs on main roads as well as junctions, including JVPD, Indian Oil, R C Marg and V N Purav Marg junctions, resulting in fewer pothole complaints on these stretches compared with ward-level roads.

TIMES VIEW

: A life lost in an avoidable mishap is tragic; any attempt to deflect the focus from the state of Mumbai's roads and blame other contributory factors for this death would be sadder still. This mishap should wake up our civic agencies from their stupor.