Will BBMP ever rid Bengaluru of back-breaking potholes?

Y Maheswara Reddy | NT

Despite being one of the better-developed cities of India and its IT hub, the authorities have failed to check the misery innumerable potholes on Bengaluru roads cause its road users. Sometimes termed craters because of their size, they not only are a bane particularly to 2-wheeler riders, a number of fatal accidents are also attributed to them. What more is it going to take for the authorities to wake up? Y Maheswara Reddy looks for answers.

Though the authorities of Bruhat Bengaluru M a h a n a g a r a Palike (BBMP) have been making all efforts to ensure roads free of potholes, motorists continue to face a lot of problems to commute on a few pothole-ridden ones. It is not that the BBMP has not taken measures to either fill up potholes or asphalt roads that need repairs. It has asphalted some roads and filled up potholes on roads in important localities where prominent politicians and officials reside, but neglected roads in many other areas of the city.

The BBMP authorities, as is only to be expected, “wake up from slumber” only when a person dies or is seriously injured due to a pothole. The BBMP chief commissioner is busy fixing deadlines for filling potholes, but “forgets about their existence” as soon as issuing directives to the BBMP engineers.

Potholes on city roads claimed three lives during the recent monsoon. The BBMP promptly announced measures to fill up potholes by September 30, a deadline that was extended by Revenue Minister R Ashok to October 10. Later, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai furthered the deadline by another week. People have still been complaining that a number of potholes are making their travel “difficult”.

Recently, the High Court pulled up the BBMP authorities, asking them to place on record the procedure adopted in filling up potholes and the policy, if any, for permitting service providers to cut roads and repair them in a time-bound manner.

It may be recalled that Badal Nanjundaswamy, a visual artist, created the mural of an astronaut walking on a pothole-ridden road at Tunganagar in September 2019. Prior to this, he along with Sandalwood heroine Sonu Gowda, tried to draw the attention of the authorities concerned towards potholes.

In November 2021, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activists offered puja to potholes at different localities in the city and filed complaints in around 40 police stations against the BBMP engineers for not filling up potholes. Though some of these roads where pothole pujas were held are asphalted, many pothole-ridden roads still crave for the authorities’ attention.

“Road development or asphalting has become a money-making business. There is a clause for the upkeep of the road that was developed or asphalted, for a few years by the contractor. However, not a single contractor is blacklisted by the BBMP authorities till date. The BBMP engineers are not insisting on the contractors to ensure quality in asphalting. It has become a habit for the BBMP chief commissioner to suspend an engineer for negligence whenever a person is killed due to potholes. I want the BBMP authorities to ensure quality in asphalting,’’ said AAP Bengaluru president Mohan Dasari.

Recently, residents of Cox Town and Charles Campbell Road, under the leadership of Bharathinagar Residents’ Forum president NS Ravi, offered puja to potholes on Charles Campbell Road demanding the BBMP authorities to fill up potholes. “I have to thank our MLA S Raghu and BBMP authorities for filling up potholes on Charles Campbell Road. I appeal to the authorities to fill up potholes on the remaining roads in the area, especially the MM Road, as early as possible for the benefit of motorists,’’ said Ravi.

One can find potholes on many roads in and around Indiranagar, including on 11th Main Road opposite ESI Hospital, Hesaraghatta Main Road, Kengal Hanumanthaiah Road, Dasarahalli Main Road and Longford Road to name a few.