BENGALURU: Though the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) claims to have done considerable work on filling up potholes, a drive through the city’s roads reveals that it leaves a lot to be desired for.
Even in the heart of the city, potholes still remain on BVK Iyengar Road, Anand Rao Circle, Subedar Chatram Road and Avenue Road which are major business hubs. Potholes that were filled with concrete have turned worse due to the rain. One pothole on Avenue Road was covered with a barricade. Autorickshaw driver Ranjith, a resident of Laggere, has been driving around Anand Rao Circle for eight years now. “I had come here even on Monday. The situation has been the same for some time now. The road is riddled with potholes.”
Though the road leading to Anand Rao Circle has been concretised, the junction was a complete mess on Tuesday afternoon with potholes at every step. Monday’s rain had made it worse with waterlogging. Ameer K K, a owner of a petty shop has been in the area for 20 years. “This has been the situation for the past month. They say work is going on but we don’t see any change,” he said.
Potholes are also seen on K G Road in Balepet opposite Kismet Dental Clinic. It was covered with cement but since it had not dried, two-wheelers were getting stuck in the depression. BVK Iyengar Road near Abhinaya Talkies is also riddled with potholes.
The Avenue Road junction is a huge mess with motorists manoeuvring around a police barricade that has been placed to cover a pothole right in the middle of the road. Pramod Kumar, who works at Ankor Book Store adjacent to the junction, said, “The road caved in when it rained on Monday night. It was covered with the barricade on Tuesday morning by the traffic police. Thankfully, there have been no accidents here.”
3 officials suspended over unfilled potholes
Following up on its warnings to officials for leaving potholes unfilled after the November 6 deadline, the BBMP suspended three officials on Tuesday. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad, Mayor Sampath Raj and other senior officials inspected areas in the East Zone to check if potholes had been filled. They found a large number of unfilled potholes in three wards, and suspended three officials whom they deemed to be directly responsible for the unfilled potholes. The suspended officials are Executive Engineer Amrut Kumar Solanki (C V Raman Nagar), Assistant Executive Engineer Saifuddin (Shivaji Nagar, ward 92) and Assistant Engineer Mallinatha Malkapur (Banaswadi, ward 22) . They were suspended on grounds of dereliction of duty pending departmental enquiry.
Potholes that were filled are resurfacing: Traffic expert
Traffic expert M N Sreehari feels that the cost of filling the potholes was a bit high. “Even if they use good quality materials, the cost will not exceed `600. Potholes that were filled are resurfacing. It seems they have used poor quality materials,’’ he alleged. But Venkatesh said BBMP will not have to bear all the cost of filling potholes. Of the 14,000 km of roads, 3,000 are under contractors’ defect liability period. This apart, the Python is filling potholes on 300 km for which BBMP pays `5.68 crore per year. “Under Nagarottana grants, 1,097 interior roads and 574 major roads are being asphalted. BBMP is not spending on potholes on all these roads,’’ said Manjunath.
