BENGALURU: With rains lashing the city over the past three days, potholes have opened up yet again. It was only last month that the government claimed to have covered all the potholes in the city.
With rains expected for a few more days, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has an uphill task ahead in ensuring that the roads don’t turn into nightmares for commuters, a feat they are unlikely to achieve, going by past performance.
BBMP officials claim that till August end they finished fixing 21,043 of the 22,662 potholes in Bengaluru. According to them, there were hardly 1,000 potholes that needed their attention.
However, just over the last three days newly-asphalted roads have yet again become pothole-ridden at various places, including Vijayanagar, Rajajinagar, Magadi Road, Chamarajapet, Shivajinagar, Mysuru Road, Girinagar, Mathikere, RT Nagar and Hebbal.
Interestingly, there is no time wasted in the blame game to start. Mayor Sampath Raj told The New Indian Express that it was the responsibility of the contractor to maintain these newly-asphalted roads. The potholes on older roads, however, will be taken care of by BBMP.
“Since it is raining now, we have instructed the officials to fill the potholes with jelly stones. Once the rain subsides, these will be filled with bitumen and then asphalt,” he said.
BBMP is lagging behind on silt removal as well. Palike workers are seen removing silt from drains in some parts of the city, including Okalipura, Magadi Road, Majestic, Basavanagudi and Chamarajpet. A BBMP official said, “This work is being done too late. KSNDMC had predicted rains in September earlier but we are yet to remove silt from many more drains.”
Tree branch leaves woman injured
Following heavy rains, a tree branch fell on a woman in Malleswaram on Sunday. Raveena (21), who works at a saree showroom near Malleswaram, had stepped out after lunch when a huge tree fell on a car and a branch fell on her as she was standing nearby.
Fortunately, she had no major injuries. She is admitted to KC General Hospital and has received stitches on her head.
Her husband Venkatesh blamed BBMP for not checking weak trees. Mayor Sampath Raj visited the hospital and said she will be given Rs 2 lakh as compensation. According to BBMP control room data, tree falls were reported at Malleswaram and Rajajinagar among other places. Electric poles have fallen at Hoysalanagar ward in CV Raman Nagar constituency.
Keep your umbrellas handy for 2 more days
BENGALURU: Though the city witnessed a rain deficit this monsoon, it has been receiving excess rainfall for the last three days. Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) authorities are now predicting moderate to heavy rainfall for the next two days.
According to KSNDMC, from June to August normal rainfall is 286 mm but Bengaluru received 208 mm. There has been a deficit of 24 per cent. However, in the last one week (September 11 to 17), there has been 69 mm rainfall as against 41 mm (66 per cent excess).
KSNDMC Director Srinivas Reddy told The New Indian Express that there has been a low-pressure formation at the Andhra Pradesh coast and the influence of this has been on Karnataka.
North Karnataka is likely to witness heavy rainfall in the next three to four days while the south interior parts of the state, including Bengaluru, will witness moderate to heavy rainfall.