Mumbai: 3 pc of repaired part of Aarey Rd cracked again

Aarey Road’s concretisation is a Rs 51.6 crore project. Pic/Anurag Ahire

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has issued a show-cause notice to the contractor and the quality monitoring agency appointed for Aarey Road in Aarey Milk Colony after three per cent of its repaired portions developed cracks. The newly-constructed road had to be repaired after it developed cracks in the first week of December.

On December 7, 2023, mid-day reported that Aarey Raod, the main road cutting across Aarey Milk Colony, developed cracks at several locations. Following this, the contractor started patching up damaged parts of the road, which was reported by mid-day on December 9, 2023.

The quality monitoring agency responsible for the main road in Aarey is one among the seven appointed by the BMC in April to audit ongoing road repair work in the city. A civic official told mid-day, "The quality monitoring agencies are supposed to conduct regular checks on ongoing repair work. In the case of Aarey Road, we found a lapse in monitoring. We have issued a show-cause notice to the quality monitoring agency. We will decide on further action based on their response."

The official added that a show-cause notice has also been issued to the contractor doing the repair and a fine of R10 lakh has been imposed. "Further action will be decided after the contractor replies to the notice," the official added. The civic body began concretising the Aarey Road that stretches from Goregaon junction to the L&T junction of Powai in 2022. The project's cost is R51.6 crore and it is supposed to be completed by 2025.

According to the tender document, the defect liability period of the road is 10 years. Aarey Milk Colony's main road has been known to have potholes. The state government handed it over to the BMC in 2022. The civic body then began to convert the asphalt road into a concrete one.