A day after a 23-year-old employee of a private company was knocked down from his two-wheeler and run over by a BMTC bus as he reportedly tried to avoid a pothole, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has distanced itself from the incident and shifted blame on the Bangalore Water Supply Sewerage Board.
Speaking to Express on Saturday, BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana said that the civic body was doing its work and covering potholes, but noted that other stakeholders should look into the problem.
“The incident at RT Nagar was not due to BBMP’s laxity. There was a manhole that was overflowing and it was the job of another agency,” Lakshminarayana claimed.
BBMP chief engineer-East Zone Krishna Swamy, under whose jurisdiction the accident spot fell, claimed that there were problems and that the corporation was attending to it. “Hebbal area is covered and arterial roads and 13 major roads in East Division will be taken up by Major Roads Department and work will start once the rains are over,” Swamy explained. He added that road asphalting and filling of potholes will be hit for some more time due to rains.
Meanwhile, BWSSB chief engineer Basavarath, defended his agency and said that relaying of pipelines was going on in the area as manholes were getting blocked. He claimed that BWSSB had barricaded the area as a precautionary measure, but people had taken away the structures. BMTC Commissioner Anjum Parvez said that the transport corporation will not shy away from its responsibility and shield drivers in case of accidents. “Drivers know about the road condition and areas and should have been careful. I cannot give a clean chit to the driver,” the official said. He added that the BMTC would increase training and conduct analysis on the incidents to educate drivers about mishap-prone routes.
Traffic cops register case
Additional Commissioner of Police-Traffic B Dayanand said that Police had registered a case of unnatural death in connection with the RT Nagar accident and were investigating.
A Ravindra, former Additional Chief Secretary to the State government, claimed that roads in the city were in bad shape and safety of vehicle users was a matter of concern and rain would cause further damage. He called for a fixed timeframe to execute projects.
9K potholes in city: BBMP
Bangalore: In its latest report, the BBMP has said that there were 9,003 potholes in Bangalore as of Friday. Rajarajeshwarinagar Zone tops with 3,937 potholes followed by South (1,350), West (1,210) and Mahadevpura (1,123).