Pothole-free roads remain as promised by CM, DCM, Chief Commissioner

Potholes: A hazard in all seasons

Kere Manjunath ಕೆರೆ ಮಂಜುನಾಥ್

Bengaluru: Even though the rainy season and summer are over and the monsoon has started again, the promise of making the city's roads pothole-free has not been fulfilled. The disasters caused by potholes filled with rainwater have not reduced either.

Pothole repairs do not start in summer. Repairs are started a few days before the rainy season. BBMP officials and engineers say that if the rain starts, the potholes will be closed as soon as the rains stop. They say that the tender has been issued and the contractors will start work. By the time the work order is given, it starts raining again. They again give the excuse that potholes cannot be closed in the rain. Thus, potholes continue to increase in the city at all times, posing a problem for motorists.

BBMP officials have been saying since January that potholes will be closed and road maintenance will be done before the rainy season. Even though the pre-monsoon has started with a bang and the monsoon rains have started, potholes on the city roads are increasing.

Potholes on the city roads cause many types of disasters, and when it rains, the roads are flooded. In such cases, vehicles, especially two-wheeler riders, fall and get into trouble. Hundreds of such cases are not recorded.

When Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar visited the city in September 2024, they instructed BBMP engineers to take action to prevent potholes on the roads and gave them a deadline of one month. Although the repair work was brisk then, it almost stopped later.

‘Although the number of potholes is increasing day by day, it does not come to the attention of BBMP engineers. They asphalt good roads overnight. "They don't even put a single bit of asphalt on the pothole on the road next to it," complained Srinivas, a resident of Malleshwaram.

BBMP engineers, who used to give figures that there were 1,700, 1,900 potholes in all zones of the city, wrote a 'record' by closing 16,000 potholes in September 2024 when Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar made an order and gave a deadline of 15 days to close the potholes.

Zonal commissioners and chief engineers, including the Chief Commissioner, worked on the roads day and night to repair the potholes. As soon as the Deputy Chief Minister returned from abroad, he worked on the very first day he wanted to receive his farewell. That is why he showed in large pictures that the potholes, which were said to be around two thousand, had been repaired to 16 thousand. After that, the apathy towards the potholes continued.

The then Chief Commissioner of BBMP, Tushar Girinath, said that ‘thousands of new potholes are emerging every day’, but all the chief engineers and zonal officers kept saying the same thing. They gave the excuse that the continuous work of repairing potholes will never end. Therefore, in the last six months, potholes have not been identified and statistics have not been collected. They have retained the information given by the traffic police as statistics.

Repairs in a hurry: Maheshwar Rao

The work of closing potholes on main and sub-main roads is underway. Although it cannot be said that they have closed everything, the repair work is going on in a hurry. It has been instructed to close the potholes on ward roads with the funds of the zones. A tender has been called for it and the repair work will begin in a few days. Since the rainy season has started, work will be done during the rain break. It has been instructed to keep hot mix and cold mix ready. In case of emergency, the potholes will be repaired by applying wet mix, said BBMP Chief Commissioner M. Maheshwar Rao.

647 Potholes Repaired in 10 Days: Lokesh

‘The traffic police also said that there are about 647 potholes on the main and sub-main roads. In addition, road potholes are being closed based on the complaints received by the BBMP, including the ‘Road Attention’ app. The existing potholes will be closed in 10 days. If they are closed from one side, new potholes will appear on the other side. This is a continuous process. We are working at a fast pace. The contractors have been instructed to keep all types of mixes, including cold and hot, ready, and the potholes are being closed,’ said Lokesh, Chief Engineer of the Road Infrastructure Department.

DCM, who remained in his statement, rides a bike!

‘BBMP staff have created a record by closing 16 thousand potholes. However, I do not believe their words. The bike that I used during my college days has been prepared. I will go to all the roads in it. The officials only show the main roads. I will observe the internal roads by riding a bike,’ said Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar had said in September 2024.

The Deputy Chief Minister, who did not believe the words of the BBMP engineers, had said in his own style that he would check the potholes and make the roads pothole-free. However, even after making that statement, Shivakumar has not even got on a bike for eight months, nor has he ever ridden on the city roads. Therefore, the BBMP engineers have also stopped identifying the potholes on the roads. They keep making many excuses for the repair work. They are claiming the same ‘record’ of repairing 16,000 potholes in 2024.