BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Saturday gave one more opportunity to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to submit a fresh work plan to fill up potholes in the city. BBMP Engineer-in-Chief S Prabhakar and Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta assured the division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice SR Krishna Kumar that they will ensure that a proper work plan is prepared to fill up/repair potholes in the CBD of Bengaluru and by using proper technology, deploying machines.
Adjourning the hearing on the PIL filed by Vijayan Menon and others to March 15, 2022 on their request, the court asked BBMP to reveal how many people have been killed due to potholes. BBMP counsel V Srinidhi replied that deaths were not due to potholes but adjacent road cuttings.
He submitted that a Python machine is being used to fill potholes on main roads where there is high traffic density and hot mix for smaller roads. A tender floated to fill up potholes was opened on March 3, 2022, but not a single bidder came forward. The court said, “Don’t say there were no bidders. It is an eyewash.”
Srinidhi said BBMP has to bear Rs 450 per sq yard for filling up potholes with hot mix and pay Rs 30 lakh per km to repair roads using Python. The court told Gupta, “Your engineers are creating problems. If you want, we will pass the orders to remove them and post good engineers.”