From planting saplings in potholes to releasing toy ducks in them, residents of Prateeksha Nagar in Sion, along with members of the Mumbai Pradesh Youth Congress (MPYC), on Thursday found a unique way to protest ‘unusable’ roads in the area. Following the protest, an MPYC delegation met the F North ward officer of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with their demands.
Ganesh Yadav, MPYC president, said the BMC spent around ₹38 crore on roads in Sion just four months ago and yet they are full of potholes. He said, “Forget ₹38 crore, on seeing the roads, one feels like the BMC did not even spend ₹25 lakh. There is no road left. All that is left of the road they constructed just a while ago are hundreds of huge potholes.”
To highlight the large number of potholes on the roads, the protesters planted saplings in them. People even went ahead and released toy ducks in the waterlogged potholes to suggest that the roads have turned into ponds.
The protesters distributed pamphlets to housing societies and pedestrians in the region to raise awareness about corrupt practices in the system. Pratik Mishra, a resident of the area, said, “Every other day, there are accidents in the area due to the potholes. We all came together and protested because clearly there is a lot of corruption, which needs to be exposed. At the end of the day, it’s the people who suffer.” For past week, the roads have been waterlogged and accidents have become an everyday affair as people cannot spot potholes, Mr. Mishra said.
The delegation met the ward officer and put forth two demands: take legal action against the contractor and conduct an inquiry against the officers who supervised the road work.
Ward officer Gajanan Bellale said there are a lot of roads in the area and most of them are in their Detect Liability Period. “This means the contractor has to repair the roads in the stipulated period, and will fix the road immediately. As far as waterlogging is concerned, the problem will be solved only after a new road is constructed and a new sewer line is installed.”
MPYC said it will organise such protests across the city in the next few weeks.