BENGALURU: Unable to meet its 10-day deadline, partly owing to rains, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now set a deadline of September 30 to fill potholes in the city.
On September 12, BBMP had launched a drive to fill potholes in the city. BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad had set a 10-day deadline, and directed officials to finish work by September 25. However, the civic agency is yet to fill up potholes in many parts of the city.
The Commissioner said, “On Wednesday, a meeting was held with various officials to take stock of the progress of the works. We lost 3-4 days to rainfall, and will complete the work by September 30.”
The deadline was set after BBMP came under fire due to potholed roads across the city. Given the magnitude of the task on hand, the BBMP engineers, including Chief Engineers, Executive Engineers, Assistant Executive Engineers, Assistant Engineers — worked from 10pm to 6am.
However, BBMP officials had to stop the drive for three days as rains had damaged roads repaired in the first few days of the drive. Experts attributed it to poor quality of work.
In many places, the BBMP officials filled up potholes using construction debris. “Officials worked yesterday night and will carry out works tonight too,” the Commissioner said.
BBMP Leader of Opposition Padmanabha Reddy alleged that corruption within the Palike was the reason for shoddy work.
He said, “Contractors are supposed to maintain the road for three years, but that is not happening. Files don’t come to the corporation, and K J George (city development minister) is directly signing on project approvals.” He also questioned how the corporation could give the exact number of potholes in the city.