Sampige Road residents fret over delays in white topping

By Manjunath Hadimani

Bengaluru: Sampige Road residents are frustrated with the long-drawn white-topping work, which has missed a few deadlines, and are also not happy about the quality of the work.

The residents complain that the quality of concrete and construction method used for the drains was not satisfactory.

The BBMP took up whitetopping of Sampige Road in February and was expected to get over in two months. But even after three months it is no where near completion.

“The BBMP is not following any method or procedure for the construction of the drains in Sampige Road. According to the procedure there has to be a boxing system for the side walls of the drain. But there are no boxes; they have blocked one side with planks and just pouring the concrete on the edges. The quality of concrete is very poor. It is watery. They do it at night so that there is no one to question them. When we ask any questions to the workers they ask us to speak to the engineer, and the engineer is never to be seen here. Would they use the same concrete for the construction of their houses? “ questioned Mohan , a resident.

He said that the steel mats at one side of the drain have two iron bars while the other side has just one bar. According to the procedure there has to be two bars. They are doing the work in a hurry, maybe because the residents and businessmen here have also complained about the slow pace of the work. But the quality shouldn’t be compromised, he added.

Prasad, a resident, complained that they have to pay Rs 100 to get a plank which acts as a bridge to shops and houses to go past the road. “They are just concreting the drains. They are not even clearing the water before adding the concrete. The concrete is watery in the first hand and it becomes even more diluted,” he said.

“BWSSB officials had said that they will be adding water and sanitary pipes, still they have not added and already the concreting work is in progress. The main aim of white topping of roads is to not cut the roads after that. I don’t understand what the plan is here. Will they dig it out after this?” asked Prasad.