BENGALURU: Officials of the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) have failed to meet Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s deadline to fill potholes across the city by October 31.
GBA chief commissioner Maheshwar Rao, who confirmed this on Saturday, said the pothole-filling work could not be completed last month because of rain.
“Due to continuous rain and deployment of GBA employees for the socio-economic and educational survey, the pothole-filling work could be completed before the deadline. Efforts will be made to complete it in the next four days,” Rao said.
Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister DK Shivakumar had stated that Rs 750 crore will be released to complete the pothole-filling work by November. But a day after his announcement, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah held a presser and warned all engineers and commissioners of the corporations under GBA to complete the pothole-filling work by October 31.
Meanwhile, BJP leaders and workers staged protests across the city against the delay in filling potholes and completion of work on other infrastructure projects. Former minister and Mahalakshmi Layout MLA K Gopalaiah, who organised a protest at Kanteerava Studio, lashed out at the Congress government for remaining mute to the city’s infrastructure problems.
“After the protest, potholes in my assembly constituency were fixed,” Gopalaiah said.
Meanwhile, senior engineers of Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited (B-SMILE) under Bengaluru East City Corporation said that a truckload of aggregate wet mix was sent back by residents of Medahalli in KR Puram for not fulfilling their demand related to Transferable Development Rights (TDR).
Work on a 1.2 km stretch could not be completed because of their protest, the engineers said.