Keep a watch on Rs 700 cr road work in B’luru

Better late than never,’ goes the saying and there cannot be a more apt phrase to sum up the civic body, BBMP’s effort to set right Bengaluru’s broken roads. On Monday, BBMP chief Tushar Girinath, announced a corpus of Rs 700 crore to fix 400 km of bad roads in the state capital. That would definitely evoke sighs of relief from city residents who have had to contend with potholes and craters as they travel every few metres on roads even in the city’s heart. The IT City has virtually become synonymous with potholed roads making people wonder why civic officials can’t get their act right and make sure the roads are smooth enough to stop riders from cursing them at every breath.

Thousands of crores have been spent over the years to set them right and yet it takes just a couple of monsoons to reduce them to a pitiable state. There have been many deaths due to potholes with two-wheeler riders slipping into them and coming under the wheels of heavier vehicles. One will also have to consider the significant damage to vehicles which travel on these roads which is sure to cost their owners at least a few thousands to fix. This recurrence of potholes and poor roads is happening because of an ugly nexus between officials who supervise the work, and contractors entrusted the task of repairing them. No one is sure whether the extent of ‘commission’ which is paid to secure work contracts is 10 percent, 20 percent or even more but what any commoner can surmise is that the higher the ‘cut’ the poorer the quality of the patch work undertaken. This equally applies to any civic work undertaken in the city, whether it be fixing of drains and cleaning them or monsoon preparedness measures.

So how can an alert public make sure that the road work undertaken this time is not a ‘quick fix’ and ensure the vagaries of the weather do not wreck them in no time? This definitely calls for the participation of the public and NGOs failing which the Rs 700 crore is sure to disappear into the pockets of contractors and bureaucrats forever with no qualitative change visible in the state of the roads. There are enough resident associations and NGOs in Bengaluru more than willing to be active participants in the restoration effort of roads in their respective areas. So unlike the usual scenario when the BBMP’s JCBs arrive one fine day unannounced to dig up the roads to the distress of everyone and then do the reconstruction hardly caring for public sentiment, this time residents will definitely have to be more assertive. For this to happen, there has to be an active citizen- civic body interface so that people know and are convinced that every rupee spent on the roads is productively utilized. This interface hardly exists in Bengaluru where most residents are fearful of even approaching the BBMP offices! Nor do most civic officials seem too concerned about citizen involvement in projects, maybe knowing that questions are likely to be raised about the quality and expenditure involved.

The world over, a proactive citizenry has done wonders in ensuring better roads and civic infrastructure and there is no reason why it should not happen in Bengaluru. So as we await better roads in our lovely city, let’s also keep a close watch on the civic work happening around us so that the Rs 700 crore set aside for better roads ensures a permanent fix for many years.