BENGALURU: The many deadlines that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) has fixed to get rid of the city’s many potholes seem to be only empty words. Recently, 43-year-old Bhavesh Jardosh, an engineering manager, fractured his elbow, and sustained bruises after he fell due to a pothole near Anjaneya Complex on Old Airport Road.
“The incident happened at 10 am while I was heading to work. I notice the pothole every day, but I try to avoid it. However, this time, a rider in front of me tried to avoid the pothole and swerved to the side. As he moved, he hit my bike and I fell and injured myself. It is not the rider at fault, but the pothole. Passersby took me to a nearby hospital,” said Jardosh.
Jardosh, who is part of a cycle to work campaign, revealed that majority of the roads were pothole ridden, making it dangerous for cyclists in the city. “I generally cycle to work. However, as my workplace is 10 km away from my house, I started using YULU bikes. Even though we promote cycling and public transport to reduce pollution in the city, we do not have good roads. How can we cyclists ride in a city like this?” he said.
In October 2019, the BBMP had pointed out that they would make the city pothole-free by November 10. However, that deadline is long gone and the civic body is yet to fill the potholes. As per a BBMP survey, the civic body has identified 10,656 potholes. The Palike claims it filled 9,319 of these potholes in November. Even the Karnataka High Court has given multiple deadlines to the BBMP to fill potholes in the city, but they have failed to do so.
BBMP Commissioner, BH Anil Kumar said, “We have already filled up all the potholes in the arterial and sub-arterial roads. As the other roads are bad, we need to restore them first. It is an ongoing process and we will get them fixed. Most of the roads are damaged due to the laying of underground drainage lines.”