BENGALURU: A week after a school van landed in a ditch on Panathur Road, prompting residents to protest over pothole-filled roads in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency on Saturday, engineers have filled potholes on a 1.3 km stretch from the Outer Ring Road (ORR) up to Panathur Village.
According to Executive Engineer Uday Chougule of the Bengaluru East City Corporation (BECC), agencies including the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Karnataka Power Corporation Limited and the Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) had dug up the road for their work and later filled it. However, he stated that the filling was not sufficient.
He further explained that the existing road on this stretch was only 20 feet wide and is now being widened to 40 feet. Work on a 480-metre stretch has become a challenge due to issues of land acquisition.
“There are 55 properties on this stretch that had to be acquired to ensure stress-free travel. Of these, five are government properties, which was not an issue. Out of the remaining 50, 42 have been acquired. Of the remaining eight, four have also been acquired. Almost 90 per cent of land acquisition for road widening of this stretch has been completed. The four more owners, who are farmers, were called for discussions on Saturday and have been convinced to give up part of their land for the project,” Chougule said.
“Once the land acquisition of the remaining four properties is completed in the next two weeks, the 480 metres of the S Cross stretch on the ORR–Panathur Village Road will be concreted. Part of the S Cross stretch has already been concreted on Saturday. By 15 October, the entire ORR–Panathur road stretch of 1.8 km will be in good motorable condition and the stretch will also have side drains,” he added.
Chougule also said that after the meeting with property owners on Saturday, execution for side drain works began on Saturday evening at the S Cross area.
The work is being personally monitored by DS Ramesh, Commissioner, BECC, and Joint Commissioner K Dakshayini.
“Loads of aggregates were used to fill potholes on the 1.3 km stretch of this road. Our engineers are working day and night to fix road issues,” said K Dakshayini, Joint Commissioner, Bengaluru East City Corporation.