MUMBAI, March 5 -- In IC Colony, Borivali west, a family cradles their 92-year-old father, picking their way through rubble and waist-deep trenches to reach an ambulance. Every second counts. Across the city, at Sandhurst Road, a trader forfeits four business hours daily, opening only at noon after a sleepless night. The losses keep piling up. Nearly four years after Mumbaiites were promised a pothole-free Mumbai, citizens are still paying a bitter price. The road concretisation drive, launched with much fanfare by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, has breached two deadlines already. The latest is end-2026 or early 2027. But it's not the faltering timeline that has Mumbaiites seething, nor is it the extent of the work. With 62.5% of the mega-project complete, the momentum has slowed compared to phase one, which covered large swathes of Mumbai in one go. The real issue, residents argue, is the civic body's unwillingness to discipline errant contractors. With little oversight, the haphazard execution of contracts is upending life in several neighbourhoods, just as it did in a tumultuous phase one. HT accessed a traffic police no-objection certificate (NOC) issued for road concretisation work. The NOC lists 22 conditions, including a stipulation that both sides of a road cannot be excavated simultaneously, and at least one lane must be kept open for vehicles. It warns that violations would lead to cancellation of the NOC and filing of criminal charges. However, activist Kamlakar Shenoy says, "Despite the traffic NOC listing several conditions, the BMC doesn't seem to notice these violations." A senior BMC official said contractors were faced with several "limitations". Asked why deadlines are breached, he cited "unforeseen issues", a stock response that has come to mask chronic delays. "We are not in a position to resolve every difficulty immediately, but we are doing our best with the interest of citizens in mind," he added. Citizens are not buying the official line. They ask how the country's wealthiest municipal corporation, with enormous financial and administrative muscle, can still fail to deliver on time. Here's why they are crying foul....