Takes an alert citizen to open the eyes of the powers that be. Armed with a camera, a Dadar resident hit the road to expose the shoddy job of how civic contractors fill up potholes on roads you commute on.

Here’s what the footage of the video shot by Sachin Gupte on Lady Jamshetjee Road (near Shiv Sena Bhavan) shows:

A labourer in a light shirt and trousers generously pours out a couple of containers of ‘ready mix’ — basically, that’s a concoction of gravels and asphalt – into a pothole. He then stomps on the just-filled opening to even it out in line with the road level. A bit of trampling upon and the labourer moves on... A bit later, vehicles zip along the road. The ‘ready mix’ surface that had been sealed by stomping upon begins to peel off.

Basically, the images show the shoddy manner in which potholes are fixed and how they got thrown open within minutes. The video also lays bare how officials of the civic administration, who issued specific instructions for fixing of potholes, are cut off from the ground reality of what actually goes on out there. The administration has laid out a prescribed procedure for filling of potholes. And, what is seen in the above video is far from the guidelines.

“The shoddy manner of work prompted me to shoot the video. I wanted to let the city fathers know what they are probably unaware of,” Gupte told dna.

He relayed this video grab to local corporator Sandeep Deshpande of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Deshpande ensured that the video was seen by officials of the municipality’s roads department. He also showed it to additional municipal commissioner SVR Srinivas and to municipal commissioner Sitaram Kunte.

While Kunte could not be contacted for his comment, civic sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the civic chief has ordered an inquiry and sought action against the contractor concerned.

Deshpande said it’s important to see how the civic authorities tackle this issue. “Will they take action against the contractor? Or will they simply suspend him for a fortnight before reinstating him?”