BMC has no clue where Rs 500 cash prize for potholes will come from

Representation picture

The BMC is willing to give citizens cash prizes worth '500 if their pothole complaints do not get resolved within 24 hours, but they have no clue from where the money would come, how they would verify a person's details and who would be held accountable. Even though the deputy municipal commissioners and deputy chief engineers have been given the responsibility to carry out the procedure, they appear to know nothing about it. The engineers were asked to fill all potholes before October 31, so that the awards could be given from November.

A deputy municipal commissioner said, "There are no instructions on how to give the award. There is no mention of it in the budget. Even if we give the award from the funds allocated to us, it is unclear how to verify the person and his/her bank account number. There is also no instruction on how to recover the money." Additional commissioner for roads, Vijay Singhal and municipal commissioner Pravin Pardeshi were unavailable for comment.

Baffled by the idea, an engineer said, "There are so many issues at various levels. Why should always we be held at gunpoint?" The BMC is also unclear about how to give the prize if more than one person sends the same photo. Ravi Raja, leader of Opposition, BMC, said, "This is the fourth attempt of the civic body to address the pothole problem. Just like the previous ones, this one will also fail."

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