Mumbai Monsoon Woes: 474 Potholes Still Unattended Despite Over 3,000 Complaints

Mumbai | July 3, 2025 : Even as Mumbai battles heavy monsoon showers, the city continues to grapple with pothole-riddled roads. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received 3,018 valid pothole-related complaints in just the past month — of which 474 potholes remain unattended, raising concerns over commuter safety and civic accountability.

According to official data, a total of 3,555 pothole complaints were registered between June 1 and July 1, 2025. Of these, 537 were found to be invalid, leaving 3,018 valid cases. The complaints were a mix of citizen submissions (1,674 complaints) and on-site detections (1,881) by civic engineers.

So far, 85% of potholes have been addressed, with 958 complaints from citizens and 1,586 self-detected potholes resolved. However, 179 citizen-reported and 295 engineer-detected potholes still await action.

To improve response times, the BMC deployed 227 ward-level sub-engineers for daily road inspections, tasked with ensuring potholes are repaired within 48 hours. Additionally, it launched a mobile app, Pothole QuickFix, and a WhatsApp chatbot on June 11 to streamline complaint registration and tracking.

Despite these efforts, citizens continue to express frustration. “I raised a complaint about potholes on Sahar Road in Andheri East, but the BMC claimed the road falls under the Mumbai International Airport Ltd. (MIAL), while the MIAL pointed back at the BMC,” said Godfrey Pimenta, founder of the Watchdog Foundation. “Why should citizens suffer due to this blame game?”

Vinod Gholap of the Fight for Right Foundation added, “Potholes have reappeared after the recent heavy rains. We hope the situation improves, especially once all roads are fully concretised.”

A senior civic official stated that the number of potholes has dropped from 92,000 to 32,000 over six years, attributing the improvement to the ongoing road concretisation drive. The BMC has reduced its pothole repair budget this monsoon to Rs 154 crore, down from Rs 205 crore last year, signaling increased reliance on permanent solutions.

The ambitious Rs 17,733 crore road concretisation project launched in 2022 is currently underway, with 700 km of roads being upgraded in two phases. Nine contractors have been appointed for the project, which officials claim will make Mumbai “pothole-free” in the long term.

Until then, however, Mumbai’s commuters will need to navigate both the rains and the rough roads.