Mumbai:
It's mid-June and Mumbai is still sweltering. While Mumbaikars are unhappy with the late monsoon, the delay offers the city's municipal corporation a chance to ensure the Maximum city doesn't come apart at the seams when the rain starts pouring down.
The to-do list is endless: Choked drains, roads that have been colonised by potholes, buildings whose edges are perched precariously.
A case in point - the Mithi river, the saviour of Mumbai from the Monsoon havoc. Post the 2006-deluge, the corporation had prioritised keeping the river clean so that it can hold water during the monsoon. It's still a work in progress.
"It's a yearly phenomenon. Every year at least water enters our home at least eight to nine times. We are pushed to live on the bed or a make shift mezzanine floor. Our kids cannot go to school. After the water recedes from our home we are left to fight with monsoon-related ailments," says an outraged Zahreena Begum who has been living in Kurla for the past ten years along with her family.
Her neighbours have the same story to narrate, "Wish I could say that the BMC have done their job this time but that's not the case. The drains outside my house are choked and all it needs is 2-3 hours of constant downpour and the water will enter my home" adds Rubina Sheikh.
The story repeats in the western suburbs too. The sewage line near the Mumbai International Airport is choked due the construction work of the airport. "Since the time the construction work has started, the sludge is dumped in the drain whic leads to water logging and water enters our home," says Aamir Zakaria.
With two major infrastructure projects currently underway - the metro and the monorail - the picture seems to be grimmer because of construction and encroachment of the roads.
But the biggest worry for the people is the crater-ridden roads. This year, the civic body has come with a unique solution. All you need is an android phone and if you come across a pothole, just click a picture and send the picture to the BMC and it promises to assign repair work to contractors.
In 2011 - 7,500 potholes were reported on 1,500 bad roads. In 2012 - 1,259 potholes have been reported so far. The richest municipal corporation spends approximately Rs 50 crore on repairing potholes every year Its mid-June and the BMC still has to complete work on 40 concrete roads, 92 asphalt roads and 172 minor roads.