Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray assures BMC is prepared for monsoons

Aaditya Thackeray and Mumbai mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar were seen monitoring road repair work in the city last night. Pic /Sayyed Sameer Abedi

With Mumbai's roads far from ready to handle the heavy onslaught of rain expected late next month, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has finally swung into action and begun repair works in the city. Overseeing the works is Shiv Sena's second-in-command Aaditya Thackeray.

Speaking exclusively to mid-day, the Yuva Sena chief, who along with Mumbai mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, was seen monitoring the ongoing repair work on Monday and yesterday night, denied the lack of preparedness on the part of the civic body. Instead, Aaditya said that the city will soon be monsoon-ready and that the filling of potholes, road-widening work and footpath repairs would end before the monsoon.

Excerpts from an interview:

Can you promise a pothole-free monsoon this year?
Nothing can happen overnight. I cannot lie about providing pothole-free roads. But, I can assure that all the roads, which were taken up for resurfacing by the BMC in the last three or four years, are no longer riddled with potholes.

Another major issue during the monsoon is waterlogging. How has the BMC tried to address the problem?
Earlier, during high tide, the roads would be flooded for over two to three days. These days, it's just for about 10 to 15 minutes. We have been working on the issue actively. So, when resurfacing roads, we are also increasing the diameter of the storm water drains. What is also important is that the pumping stations, which have been installed across the city, have enough capacity to pump out the water. I recently visited Gazdhar Bandh (Santacruz West) where work on one of the pumping stations is going on. It should be ready by June.

What about the blame game?
I don't want to get into the blame game. I believe in work, which is being done.

Do you have a system in place to deal with problems Mumbaikars face during the monsoon?
We have a helpline number 1916. We hope to tackle all kinds of issues related to rains.