Not all road works in Mumbai will be completed before May 31 monsoon deadline: Shelar

Mumbai: Significant progress has been made in road works in Mumbai but not all of it will be completed before May 31, the deadline set by authorities ahead of monsoon, Maharashtra minister Ashish Shelar said on Monday.

The BJP MLA was speaking to reporters after visiting various areas in the metropolis to check road works ahead of monsoon.

"Sixty-five per cent of the ongoing road construction work in Mumbai is complete. However, officials have told me the remaining work cannot be completed by May 31. I have directed officials to ensure all road curing is done by May 20. No new work should commence in the days ahead of the monsoon," Shelar said.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has assured that roads will be free of obstacles and barricades as the monsoon approaches, Shelar added.

"When Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray were controlling the BMC, road construction work was much slower. The current speed is five times more. That should be welcomed," he said.

The BMC was controlled for more than two decades by the undivided Shiv Sena led by Thackeray. However, since early 2022, the civic body is under a state government-appointed administrator.

Aaditya Thackeray has been a fierce critic of the previous Eknath Shinde government and the current Devendra Fadnavis dispensation on civic affairs in the nation's financial capital.

Asked about the pending appointments related to the BJP's state and Mumbai units, Shelar said, "My demand is that the new chief of Mumbai BJP should be announced today itself. The BJP believes in a democratic procedure of electing party functionaries." he said.