Dear Dr G Parameshwar, deadly potholes still here!

Bengaluru: It's been over a month since Deputy Chief Minister Dr G. Parameshwar, during his first meeting with BBMP officials on June 12, ordered the authorities to fill all the 6,000 potholes in the city within the next 10 days.

He had also committed to filing 1,200 potholes, measuring over 1 square metre, on priority using the scam-ridden Python machines. But a month has elapsed and potholes continue to trouble commuters. Incessant rains since June 12 have only widened and deepened the potholes, besides creating newer ones.

Stretches near Mysore Circle, in V.V. Puram, J.P. Nagar, Yeshwanthapur, Yelahanka, Shanthinagar, Rajajinagar, Vijayanagar, Bapuji Nagar and Ulsoor, and on Double Road and Bannerghatta Road are filled with potholes.

Mr Susheel Babu, a resident of Jayanagar, who was heading from Wilson Garden to Double Road, sustained injuries when he fell from the bike after it hit a pothole. “I drove into the pothole as the lighting was poor at the spot. I survived with minor bruises only because there were no vehicles behind me,” he said.
Across the city, there have been many such cases that go unreported.

Co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru, Ms Tara Krishnaswamy, said, “We have heard this from the earlier government too. All potholes to be filled in 15 days! Now it’s 10 days! While these deadlines come and go, the potholes stay! Monsoon has already hit the city, and the situation will only worsen. Road maintenance and storm water drain cleaning works should have been taken up before the rains.”

She hoped that the authorities would take the Deputy Chief Minister’s orders seriously and repair the roads as potholes have become life threatening for motorists.

Civic evangelist V. Ravichandar said, “If we are talking of filling a pothole that is 1x1 metre wide and 6-inch deep, I doubt whether the repair work will last till the end of monsoon. It is difficult to fill potholes during the rainy season. The civic body should to use cold melt under these conditions.”

Mayor Sampath Raj told Deccan Chronicle, “We have been filling potholes as and when we receive complaints from the people. Of all the eight BBMP zones, Mahadevpura and Bommanahalli have received the maximum number of complaints.”

Asked on the mix used by the BBMP to fill potholes, he said, “We are using hot mix as there is good amount of sunlight.”