BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s event-filled Bengaluru rounds led him to lose his cool several times and order the suspension of an engineer on Saturday. His inspection of the capital city, along with ministers and officials, came after days of complaints by people, who are frustrated with the condition of roads and other infrastructure issues.
He warned new commissioners and chief engineers of the five city corporations falling under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) that they should fix potholes by October-end or face action.
Seeing the condition of Hennur-Bagalur road, which falls under the Bengaluru North City Corporation, Siddaramaiah flew into a rage and said the assistant executive engineer (AEE) attached to the Bengaluru Smart Infrastructure Limited (BSMILE) should be suspended.
He found that potholes were covered with just gravel and no tar on them.
CM tells officials to identify those dumping construction waste on roads
Near Hennur flyover, the CM lost his cool again against Commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar as he found heaps of garbage outside the collection unit, though there was enough space inside. He said a notice should be issued to Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Ltd Chief Engineer Raghavendra Prasad.
Seeing heaps of construction material dumped on the roadside in Hennur, he asked, “How many officials commute via this route? Don’t you notice this?” He directed officials that the waste should be cleared within 24 hours.
The CM, who started his city rounds from his official residence ‘Krishna’, instructed the Central City Corporation officials to install a drainage system near Windsor Manor on Ballari Road so that rainwater does not get stagnated, but flows into the sewer.
On the Ring Road, he found construction waste dumped in an area where there are no CCTV cameras. He instructed officials to identify those who dumped the waste, register a case against them and impound their vehicles. “Officials from the corporation, Bangalore Development Authority and police department should strictly control dumping of waste on the road,” he said.
Inspecting the white-topping work on Bagalur Road in Hennur, he said, “Contractors should take responsibility for maintaining roads selected for whitetopping. The corporation will not pay for the maintenance of these stretches. The government is spending Rs 13 crore per km for the 5 km road. The contractor has been given a month to complete the work.”
As the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited work too is going on, roads have been damaged in a few places, he said. The metro staff should not neglect service roads. Rainwater should flow off roads smoothly, he added.
On the pathetic Panathur T Cross road, he found construction waste along the road and instructed the DGP and corporation commissioner, who were present, to install CCTV cameras and to depute marshals to punish those dumping waste.
701 Pothole filled in BCCC
The Bengaluru Central City Corporation (BCCC) stated that it has filled 701 potholes within its limits since September 20. Potholes on 51 roads, covering 48.90 km have been repaired. Engineers have been told to conduct regular inspections and fill potholes, it added.