The BBMP hurried through pothole-filling works, and it is showing. The potholes that were filled recently have made a comeback, bigger and more dangerous, while the Palike has missed the 15-day deadline set by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to fill all the 19,725 craters across the city. Now, the BBMP has sought a 10-day extension of the deadline. Aknisree Karthik questions the Bengaluru Mayor on the progress of the pothole fixing drive, while seeking the opinion of experts and commuters on the condition of city roads
If there is one thing that has been on people's minds this year it is the humble pothole that has a way of appearing on our roads ever so periodically.
Bengaluru , which had a record high rainfall this year, had its Cherrapunji moments when it broke a 115-year old record of rain received. But the rain exposed the chinks in the city’s armour. Its roads, constructed for lesser rain and lesser wear and tear, were left ravaged by the downpour.
But Bengaluru continues to be a magnet, drawing people to it and in turn sees its population rise. A rather patchy public transportation system with the Namma Metro still falling into place means that everyone wants to own a set of wheels. And even as I pen this the city boasts of lakhs of vehicles, which only compounds the problem.
Potholes on city roads are a risk to the life and limb of the two-wheeler rider and the pillion-rider as they have a way of causing accidents, which can kill. And we have had many of these. This is why I believe that potholes don't have the right to be in a city. A city road must be clear, clean and have no defect.
The second risk is to vehicles of every kind as they increase their wear and tear. I jocularly call the Bengaluru pothole the ultimate guilt-tax extracted bump by bump from the owners of the luxury cars in the city. This is the price you pay for owning a swanky car on a not so swanky road in Bengaluru.
So the big problem facing the city today is the pothole. What's the solution? What needs to be done? I believe we need to invest in the more expensive option of the concrete road, which can take better attrition and wear and tear. The white topped road is really the answer to the needs of a big city like Bengaluru.
We need the concrete road constructed with intelligence so it can take both heavy traffic and rain equally. Imagine having concrete roads that are wedded to Tender Sure footpaths. We then would have a city that looks elegant. Also imagine intelligent roads that have a water seepage system that allows groundwater to accumulate.
Actually, it may not be enough to imagine anymore. It’s time to get things done and we need to move.
Hasty pothole fixes could lead to poor quality roads
Bengaluru’s potholes are making headlines now not just for the accidents they are causing but also the people, who are dying as a result of them. It was after one such death of a woman riding pillion, who fell off a bike while the rider tried to avoid a pothole and was run over by a truck on Mysuru Road in Nayandanahalli, that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was provoked into giving a 15-day deadline to BBMP officials to fill the potholes or face action.
The death of 52-year-old Radha from Shampura in Devarajeevanahalli on October 8 was the second such incident on Mysuru Road. Just a few days previously, on October 3, Anthony Joseph (55) and his wife, Sagai Mary (52) of JJR Nagar, were killed on its Sirsi Circle Flyover while trying to avoid a pothole. Finally shaken out of his indifference, Mr Siddaramaiah went on an inspection of the accident spots accompanied by Bengaluru Development Minister K. J. George on October 9 and gave the BBMP officers an earful and an ultimatum on filling the potholes.While his deadline ended on Tuesday, the BBMP is still struggling to fill the potholes, leaving many areas as rocky as ever. It however, claims it has filled around 85 per cent of them so far. Agreeing that more work needs to be done, Mayor Sampath Raj says he has requested the Chief Minister to extend the deadline by another 10 days to allow the BBMP to fill the remaining potholes.
"I explained to the CM that we could not fill the potholes any faster owing to the rain," he said, when contacted.
But long suffering Bengalureans, who are having their spines rattled by the ever enlarging potholes, remain sceptical about what they can expect. Not only do they question the count of 15,935 potholes given by the BBMP , but also greatly doubt the quality of the work it is doing to fill them up.
"Are these real figures or do the officials just sit in their offices and cook them up ? They claim to have filled over 85 percent of potholes. If that's the case we should be having a smooth ride on the city’s roads. But the ride is still bouncy," pointed out Mr Surya Prakash, a resident of South Bengaluru , where the BBMP claims to have filled almost 90 per cent of the potholes.While acknowledging that some of the pothole- ridden stretches in the city are being repaired, Ms Shanthi, a resident of Vinayaknagar, says the quality of work done isn’t very good. "Potholes on the repaired stretch from Shantinagar bus stand to Wilson Garden are already reappearing,” she noted with dismay.
Other commuters too point out that many major and interior roads of the city are still filled with potholes. Mr Sampath Raj however, assures that all the work will be done soon even if the N.E. Monsoon brings more rain to the city. “We are just 20% behind our target in filling potholes and will finish it whenever the rain lets up,” he promised.
Q&A: ‘We’ve only 687 potholes left to fill’
Mr Sampath Raj
Bengaluru Mayor
Q: With the 15 day deadline given by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah having ended, how long more will the BBMP take to fill all the potholes?
A: I personally explained to the Chief Minister that we could not fill all the potholes within the 15- day deadline that ended on Tuesday owing to the rain and have asked him to give us 10 days more.
Q: But the North East Monsoon is now expected to bring rain to the city from October 26. Won’t this hamper the pothole filling exercise ?
A: We are just 20 per cent behind our target in filling the potholes. Even if it rains, we will take up the work whenever it lets up.
Q: What is the exact number of potholes in the city and how many have been filled till date ?
A: Of the 19,725 potholes on roads in the wards, 17,787 have been filled and we are left with 1,938 to fill still. Of the 5,823 potholes on major roads, 5,136 have been filled and we have only 687 left to repair.
Q: How do you count the potholes ?
A: These are not random figures. We arrived at them based on the data collated from our engineers, who identified the potholes in their jurisdictions. Once the identified potholes are filled, our engineers update their data and we get to know how many have been repaired this way.
Q: Several of the potholes that were filled are already coming undone. Are you aware of this?
A: This could have happened in a few areas because we were working under pressure to fill the potholes even during rain. In places where we used cold mix, the pothole filling exercise may have been affected due to rain.
