BENGALURU: Bengaluru is in the pits, literally. Almost every road in the city is pockmarked by potholes. Most of these are huge craters that don’t just stick out like a sore thumb in the IT hub but also pose a huge risk to the lives of commuters. Last month, the BBMP claimed to have counted over 5,000 potholes, but the number may be too less. While civic agencies are blaming two weeks of incessant rain for the damage, experts say it doesn’t absolve them of their apathy and the shoddiness of road works monitored by them .
“The state government did not bother to address the issue before it got worse. They slept over it and did nothing to the roads between January and March,” says traffic expert MN Sreehari. The problem needs a scientific approach, says N Ravichander, urban expert. “The existing potholes are not scientifically filled,” he says.
Though Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has directed the BBMP to fill the potholes immediately, Mayor Padmavathi G says the work will finish only by October end. “Work cannot start till it stops raining ,” she says. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said they need four consecutive dry days before they can start asphalting or concretising roads.