Pouring good money after bad has become a habit of the BBMP, where accountability is the last thing on anybody’s mind, and where civic works are awarded not for the benefit of the city and citizens but to fill the coffers of contractors and line the pockets of corrupt officials. Shrinivasa M. and Sangeeta Bora ask what BBMP plans to do with the new money coming its way.
Like an old broken record, the BBMP time and again takes to the streets to fill potholes, which regularly reappear due to the shoddy work done. The most recent evidence of this is at Agara Signal, in Whitefield, Koramangala, Madiwala, and the city’s Central Business District, where the potholes have reappeared despite the so-called repairs.
Even the loss of lives as a result of the uneven road surfaces doesn’t seem to have woken up the civic agency to its responsibility of repairing them more effectively. Commuting to any major junction of the city is not a trip that most enjoy as their bones seem to rattle when their vehicles run over the harda to miss ever present potholes.
Read: Guest column - Potholes can be tackled swiftly
The BBMP now says it has set aside Rs 100 crore for restoring the roads in Bengaluru, but this is clearly mere tokenism, as the funds required would b a lot more even to do patchwork repairs. Experts point out that filling up the potholes would not have been such a massive task if the BBMP did regular maintenance work on the roads as it should.
Cement blocks of a median on Richmond flyover given a makeover by artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy in Bengaluru on Wednesday, signalling that the roads are in as bad a shape as Venkatappa Art Gallery (Photo: DC)
Although the civic fathers of the city and politicians and bureaucrats are clearly aware of the problem they don’t seem to care less as no attempts have been made to come up with a focused long term plan to make the roads motorable. If the BBMP council under the BJP failed to do the job, the council under the Congress is doing little better as the condition of city roads remains as deplorable as ever.
The present government may have made a grand gesture in appointing a Bengaluru Development minister to apparently give the city its due, but this too appears a mere tokenism as he doesn’t seem to care about the upkeep of its roads either.
What will it take then to shake the administration out of its lethargy? Urban expert R K Misra finds it ridiculous that every year potholes are counted and supposedly filled, when it makes no difference whatsoever to the condition of the roads.
“It is pathetic that a minister, who should be talking about infrastructure projects like the Metro Rail and elevated corridors, should have to clarify on potholes. This should be part of the BBMP’s regular maintenance work, which it must carry out come what may. We have never heard of the PWD talking about filling potholes, because it takes care of them as a regular exercise,” he notes.
Another civic expert, Vivek Menon says while Rs 100 crore is not enough to repair the roads, it can make a difference if used properly.
“I have always been sceptical about big numbers. This Rs 100 crore can be a good start. The BBMP needs to look at streets and areas that need attention, instead of trying to spread the money everywhere. Every year, there are floods in rain and the roads give up. If you can selectively spend your money, it will be much more effective than doing patchwork, which will be washed away in notime. We need a focused programme to deal with the potholes,” he stresses.
Roads in residential areas need attention
With the pre-monsoon all set to hit the city, the Rs 100 crore set aside for restoring city roads may be used to do emergency repairs only, says a BBMP officer. “The engineering section will decide what is to be done,” he adds. Mr. Ravichandar V, a civic expert, believes the funds given could be meant for the smaller jobs required to be done in the wards.
“The money is obviously meant for minor work. It will not be utilised for any major road work like construction of new roads or big repairs as a separate fund is usually kept aside for such work,” he says.
A civic activist from Malleswaram, Ramamurthy feels the real issue now is how the Rs 100 crore allocated for city roads will be spent. “This is definitely not enough to even improve the roads in the wards. Because of the poor funding, roads in residential areas too need more attention. If the present allocation is divided among the 198 wards, it will leave each with hardly around Rs 60 lakh , which cannot go very far. It will only lead to trading of charges between members of the ruling party and the opposition,” he warns.
