BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath has set a new deadline of December 31 for the fixing of all potholes in the city, with a strong warning to Palike engineers to complete the job by then or face the music.
Talking to media persons at the BBMP head office on Tuesday, Girinath said though fixing potholes is an ongoing exercise, engineers will be held accountable and they will be penalised if they miss the fresh deadline.
“We have already submitted a report to the court in this regard and work has happened. But because of the recent rains, the number of potholes have increased. What I want to say is that fixing potholes is an ongoing exercise. But by December 31, we will get a declaration from all engineers, from major roads at least, that there are no potholes,” Girinath said.
From January 1, the Palike will open the ‘Fix My Street’ application for the public to report on potholes to help the officials check and address the issue at the earliest.
Girinath stressed that agencies which dig up roads to lay cables and for other works must restore the roads to their original condition. The responsibility to check this will be on the engineers concerned. “The engineers, either from wards or major roads, will be held responsible if they fail to ensure that roads are back in shape after digging by various agencies. Such engineers will be penalised and have to shell out from money from their pockets to fix the roads,” he said.
Meanwhile, Girinath said the BBMP will rope in experts from the Indian Institute of Science and other such institutions to study the Rapid Road project, which was launched on a pilot basis on Old Madras Road, and give a report on its durability and cost effectiveness.
“It is an independent body and its suggestions on the cost, design and cost will matter. It will take time and once they give a report, we can take further steps,” he said.