Where is your road fund going, BBMP?

Anybody who has driven through Bengaluru will tell you that there are more potholes than roads, a situation that worsens to nightmarish proportions in the rain. There appears to be no excuse for this, as the BBMP has a staggering Rs 31 crore for major road works this year alone! What then are authorities doing? As far as the Palike is concerned, keeping the city in good condition has more to do with making money than giving citizens their due.

The budgets are staggering. The BBMP has Rs 14.85 crore at its disposal for filling potholes under its programme of works and Rs 31 crores under major road works this financial year alone. In  addition it has Rs 6.31 crore for mechanical pothole- filling.

While the BBMP's major roads department is expected to fill potholes on major arterial and sub-arterial roads, the various area corporators are supposed to pitch in with  Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh from the funds allotted to them for developmental work to repair roads in their jurisdiction.

So why then is the city still filled with potholes when the civic agency seems flush with funds to repair its roads?  Urban expert, Ashwin Mahesh believes the answer is simple. 

"Filling of potholes is seen as an annual money making exercise,” he says candidly. Also, there is an administrative angle to the whole problem, he explains.

“As the BBMP cannot issue a contract to fill just one pothole, its waits till their number has increased and then engages someone to fill them. But  by then they become much bigger and more numerous,” he deplores.

Instead he suggests the BBMP should issue a “forward contract,”  and deposit an amount of say Rs 5 crore with the contractor, who must be told to fill every new pothole that emerges and and get it certified from the local engineer.

“This way even emerging potholes can be addressed,” Mr Mahesh explains. Noting that the constant digging of roads for various repairs by other civic agencies  contributes to  the problem as well, he suggests that the utilities  be shifted to the side in ducts, so that they can be reached without damaging the rest of the road.

Agreeing that pothole filling is nothing but a money making exercise, urban expert, R K Mishra, claims that  the repairs are deliberately shoddy to make sure they don’t last too long.

“The BBMP needs to do away with the practice of filling potholes ward-wise and hand  over the entire exerice to contractors hired annually for the job. They should be told to fill the potholes no matter how many times they wear out.This is the  only way quality can be maintained and  keep the roads free of potholes after a heavy spell of rain,” he says emphatically.

Those travelling long distances the worst hit
While people in the city have become enured to potholes, those travelling long distances on work or  other reasons have it bad as they suffer bumpy rides for much longer.  

Mr Prakash Murugan of Uttarahalli, whose granite business takes him  around the city every day for one reason or the other, says he has the worst time in Banashankari 5th and 6th stage, as the roads there are filled with potholes. “While the roads are already in bad condition, the rains last week only made them worse. Also,  roads are dug up for one or  other reason and left unrepaired," he complains angrily.

A factory worker, Nagabhushan, who commutes from Doddakallasandra to J P Nagar every day, says the road leading to Kanakapura main road becomes a nightmare after rain. “The road is in terrible state owing to the ongoing Metro Rail work, making travelling  a big headache every day," he grumbles.

Mr Jayaram, a techie who heads to Electronic City from Anepalya for work, says he encounters a big pothole in the middle of the road near the Adugodi traffic police station. “This potholes has been the cause of many accidents. Speeding two-wheeler riders skid when they try to avoid this death-trap  and fall down. But still no has cared to fill it," he regrets.

Mr Mohammad Aziz, a hotelier, who supplies food to his customers on a two-wheeler, says he  has a very hard time at Majestic, Anand Rao Circle and in Okalipuram as the roads there are in very bad shape.

“As the roads are filled with potholes we are forced to drive at a snail's pace. The bad road  damages our vehicles too,” he adds. But the pothole menace is not confined to these areas alone, and is seen almost everywhere, whether it is Austin Town, Ejipura, Commercial Street , Indiranagar or Malleshwaram, leaving people in the city begging for a smooth ride. 

No scientific method for filling potholes: MN Sreehari, traffic expert
Potholes are deliberately not  filled properly so they can re-emerge in heavy rain and BBMP corporators and officials can make big money. Also, official are lying about the number of potholes in the city. If a proper survey is done, their number could  cross a lakh easily.

They cause numerous problems for people. Many have broken their spine or had their joints dislocated while trying to avoid them. The average speed of vehicles too drops to as low as 10km an hour leading to traffic jams owing to potholed roads.

The BBMP does not have  a scientific approach to filling potholes. What it does is simply pour some tar and gravel into the gaping holes. But that's not the right way to go about it. When filling a pothole, it has to be first cleaned and shaped like a rectangle or square based on its dimension.

Later, bitumen, sand and coarse aggregates must be mixed in the desired proportion and then poured into the pothole in two layers. The first layer must be levelled and allowed to settle down before the second layer is poured. 

Finally,  the rectangular or square edges must to be sealed to prevent water from seeping in as it is the main reason why potholes form. If the entire process is done scientifically,  potholes will never re-emerge on our roads.