Complete road concretisation works by May 31: Eknath Shinde to civic officials

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. File Pic

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday told the officials that all ongoing road concretisation works in Mumbai must be completed by May 31, reported the PTI.

According to the PTI, Eknath Shinde was speaking at a meeting of MLAs from the metropolis, convened by Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, to discuss the concretisation work, which elected representatives have claimed to be of low quality.

For the first time, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray participated in a meeting attended by Eknath Shinde, who, incidentally, arrived late, the news agency reported on Monday.

Aaditya Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena have been bitter rivals since the party, founded by Bal Thackeray, split in June 2022.

"All ongoing road concretisation works in Mumbai must be completed by May 31. Till the ongoing concretisation is not completed, no new roads will be dug up," Eknath Shinde said, as per the PTI.

In the meeting, it was decided that assistant municipal commissioners will review road concretisation works in April along with representatives of firms like Mahanagar Gas and power companies, following which a completion schedule will be created.

Aaditya Thackeray sought a probe by the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) into the poor quality of cement concretisation of roads, his colleague and Vandre East MLA Varun Sardesai stated.

MLAs complained of sub-contracts of these works being given, which was leading to poor quality, Sardesai added, reported PTI.

BJP MLA Atul Bhatkalkar said that he outlined lack of coordination among BMC ward officials.

The issue of these works was raised by Bhatkalkar in the assembly last week, during which legislators slammed civic authorities for their lackadaisical approach in implementing the state government's "pothole free" Mumbai campaign.

Bhatkalkar stated in the House that former Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and current CM Devendra Fadnavis had initiated the cement concretisation of roads to make them pothole-free, but the civic authorities had taken no action.

Speaker Narwekar noted that the state government should consider whether an inquiry is necessary into the ongoing cement concretisation of roads, similar to the one conducted following previous road scam reports in the city. His comments came after members of the ruling Mahayuti and opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) raised concerns over the poor quality of roads and the delays in the ongoing cement concretisation works, the news agency reported.

(With inputs from PTI)