BENGALURU: The bandh called by Kannada organisations on Saturday has come as a blessing in disguise for the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which is struggling to fill all potholes on city roads by the October 5 deadline. BBMP officials are hoping that the roads will be free of traffic on the bandh day to complete most of the pothole-filling works.
“We have less time to fix potholes. During the day, it’s difficult for us to complete our task and it is a nuisance for vehicle users. During night, if it rains, we cannot do the work. But we cannot give such reasons to higher officials or the minister. The bandh has come as blessing. We will try to finish most of the work,” an official said.
According to BBMP Engineer-in-chief M R Venkatesh, the engineers are working on fixing potholes day and night. “Only when it rains, we stop work. On Saturday, we are hoping to see empty roads which will ease our work,” he told Express. He said they are not going by the number of potholes this time. “We are going by (the number of) roads. We have completed 70 per cent of the work.”
A traffic police officer said whenever officials take up pothole-filling work during the day, it creates traffic jams. “We are hoping the engineers complete the work on Saturday when there are no vehicles,” he said.