Data procured by the civic body showed that between June and July 16, the BMC recorded 6,231 pothole related complaints. A senior BMC official said that the civic body resolves a complaint within 24 – 48 hours of the complaint’s reception.

“These are pothole complaints which are recorded by our engineers through inspections, social media and telephone complaints. These potholes are being filled within 24-48 hours. In many cases, when there is heavy rainfall, filling of potholes couldn’t be done regularly and we have to wait till rain stops,” the official told The Indian Express.

According to the data, the maximum complaints were reported along the Western Express Highway (WEH) and the Eastern Express Highway (EEH), which recorded 2,019 and 1,286 pothole-related grievances respectively.

In the city, meanwhile, the K/West ward (Andheri) — which is amongst one of the highest tax paying wards — recorded the highest pothole-related complaints at 473, followed by G/North (Dadar, Mahim) ward at 217 and P/North (Malad) ward wherein 172 reports emerged.

This year, the municipal body has allocated Rs 545 crore for multiple works including filling potholes, and carrying out resurfacing work of the existing road, marking a whopping jump of 36 per cent  compared to the previous year when the BMC had spent Rs 400 crore to fix 70,000 potholes during monsoon.

Of the total Rs 545 crore, the civic body has earmarked Rs 275 crore for filling potholes only.

Under this header, Rs 8-12 crore is slated to be allocated across 24 municipal wards in the island city, eastern and western suburbs, depending on their geographical size and the network of roads that fall under them for filling potholes during the monsoon.

For the arterial WEH and EEH, meanwhile, the BMC had awarded a Rs 146 crore tender for carrying maintenance and pothole repair works in May, this year. Even so, the highways remain mired by the maximum number of pothole related grievances. The BMC had taken over the maintenance of the arterial routes from the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) in 2022.

Mahim resident Mushtaq Ansari, who handles a page called ‘Pothole Warriors’ on X, said that the BMC should increase the pace of concretisation, seeking to ensure that the pothole woes are reduced over time.

“While the pothole numbers have reduced in the past few years, every time it rains, they start resurfacing again. Firstly, it is essential that these issues are resolved prior to monsoon as during rains, the cold mix used by BMC to fill potholes gets washed away. During monsoons, meanwhile, residents should be more proactive and immediately raise complaints when they find potholes,” Ansari said.