BANGALORE: The city has about 23,000 potholes, claims BBMP. For the civic body, these may be mere numbers. But for Sahana, a pillion rider, it means a broken hand.
Sahana was riding pillion with her husband when their bike hit a pothole on Seshadri Road on Sunday, throwing her off. She was injured and rushed to St Martha’s Hospital. The impact of the fall was such that she sustained a fracture on her left hand. As the incident happened right in front of the fire and emergency office, the personnel there gave Sahana first aid and later even covered the pothole.
What is the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) doing about potholes? Filling and asphalting them is a regular affair, BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana told Express on Sunday.
Measures have been taken to fill up potholes and once the rains stop, road repair works will also be taken up, he said.
But how many potholes are there in the city? The BBMP doesn’t have the exact figure.
“There could be around 23,000 potholes in the city. This is only a guesstimate. Our officials are doing a survey in each zone,” the commissioner said.
Potholes have increased this time due to heavy rains, he said.
In September last year, senior officers in the BBMP had stated that there were about 40,000 potholes. They claimed that only 11,614 were yet to be filled up -- a claim which most citizens would find difficult to swallow.
Residents say that by the time the last one is finally filled up, new ones may crop up or the badly repaired ones may resurface.
The BBMP was supposed to fill up all potholes in the 198 wards and orders were issued by the Commissioner in this regard. Several deadlines passed, but the work has not been completed.
Muniswamy Gowda, chairman of the BBMP Standing Committee on town planning, admitted that they missed the deadline last time.
He said the work is going on in full swing now.
“Soon, we will carry out inspection ward-wise and prepare a list of priority areas. Engineers concerned in each ward will be tasked to monitor work and send daily reports,” he said.
“If officials show laxity, they will be held responsible and as chairperson, I will ask the Commissioner to take action,” said Gowda.
Major Roads Survey
Chief Engineer Somashekhar said that all the executive engineers from eight zones have been monitoring the survey of over 1,9540 km road length of major roads. “The work on major roads will start after the rains are over. We will get a survey report by Tuesday, following which an estimate will be prepared,” said Somashekhar.