Mumbaikars to choose which potholes to be audited

Mumbai and Potholes

Finally the BMC has shortlisted two firms; Swiss firm SGS & Indian Register which will now  conduct an audit of potholes at a cost of around Rs. 10 lakh  following the scam which involves filling of potholes. Earlier BMC drew a list by themselves and selected only 20% of reported potholes which were to be audited for the quality material used but that move was not a success in impressing the opposition. The opposition demanded that citizens should themselves get the chance to choose the potholes that are to be scrutinized.  BMC introduced the pothole tracking software to usher transparency, further a third party audit was also planned but wasn’t done immediately. The audit has already faced a delay and there’s a major centre between civic engineers and contractors. Corporator Makar and Narvekar think the audit will be a waste of taxpayers' money. If not citizens, then the auditors must be allowed to choose potholes. Meanwhile, though BMC claims the audit has begun, the auditors themselves said a work order is yet to be issued.

Will short listing of the audit firms ease the problem of Mumbaikars travelling and help them in smooth commuting? It ideally would.