BANGALORE: Potholes have sprung up in various parts of the city with incessant monsoon rains taking a heavy toll on roads and civic authorities remaining indifferent to their danger.
“Potholes can take away lives and, in some cases, create disability for life,” said Dr Ajit Benedict Royan, vice-president of HOSMAT, adding that the hospital has had cases where people suffered injuries while driving due to potholes.
S K Raju, a resident of HAL Colony, agrees. “The potholes pose a major danger, especially during rush hours. Even the patients who come to hospital in the locality face problems because of the road widening work. The authorities should fix the roads and the potholes before some major tragedy occurs,” he said.
Potholes are also causing a major slowdown in traffic, a common sight in areas such as Richmond Road (near HOSMAT), RT Nagar Main Road (near Nandini Hotel), Wilson Garden, Suranjan Das Road and Minsk Square. M Z Ali, a resident of Wilson Garden, said that in the coming days, with more rains expected to cause bigger potholes, the road connecting Bannerghata and Hosur will see heavier and slower traffic.
Meanwhile, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Ward-level Standing Committee Chairperson A H Basavaraju warned ward-level engineers over their lackadaisical attitude towards covering up potholes and not carrying out a survey on potholes.
Basavaraju told Express, “I have not been getting the reports regularly. It has been more than two months since my office got a report from the officials. I will write a letter to the BBMP Commissioner and we will send a circular on Monday to all the zones to carry out a survey on the existing potholes and to cover them up. Once the rainy season ends in September, the work on asphalting, filling up of potholes and re-laying of roads will be taken up.”
BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminayarana said he will direct his officials to speed up the work and also instruct BWSSB officials to complete the pipe laying work quickly and give an estimation of roads to be tarred.