‘Repaired’ road wilts under rain fury

Hameed Ashraf | NT Bengaluru, Nov. 6

With the city witnessing an unprecedented wet spell, it has been a nightmare for motorists as most roads are riddled with potholes. BBMP is currently resorting to temporary fixes by laying only aggregates mixed with jelly stones and cement to fill potholes, as they claim it is not possible to carry out a full-fledged repair during the rainy spell.

However, this temporary fix has been causing more trouble for motorists, especially the twowheeler riders, as loose jelly stones and gravel increases risk of skidding. Nagarbhavi Outer Ring Road is one such road where the civic officials had carried out a temporary fix in September, by filling them up with aggregators. However, much to the dismay of motorists, driving on this road is dangerous as the jelly stones are spread loosely. “It is a nightmare to ride in and around the stretch as the road is in bad shape. When the road gets inundated, it is extremely dangerous, especially for two-wheelers,” said Bhargava N, who works in an office near the Ring Road.

The tarmac has worn out and is in dire need of maintenance even after the repairs. With large chunks of tar missing, worried locals have identified the root cause of the problem to be unscientific or improper asphalting. “The authorities often attempt to fix potholes by putting low quality tar. They do not even get the patches levelled to the road. They just put the jelly stones and leave it, which creates more problems,” Bhargava added. Velu R, who owns a shop on the Nagarbhavi main road, told News Trail, “This is probably one of the roads that sees the highest density of traffic in the city and needs frequent maintenance. Seeing the condition of the road now nobody can say that it was repaired last month,” he said. When the News Trail tried contacting the local Corporator, the calls went unanswered. Anticipating rainy days, the civic body has fixed boards at various places cautioning the motorists of bad roads and to ride slowly. “The recent heavy rains have washed the patches off.

We have regularly been closing them as it is also part of our regular maintenance work,” one of the BBMP senior officials said. “We have taken up road repair work on a priority basis. We have men and material ready but the unprecedented rains have made them helpless,” he added.