Will fill potholes in 2 weeks: Bengaluru Development Minister K J George
Bengaluru: In his maiden inspection late on Saturday night, Bengaluru Development Minister K.J George warned BBMP officials that strict action will be taken against them if they don’t carry out their duties efficiently.
Following criticism from Bengalureans that the roads in the city were unmotorable, Mr George conducted a late night inspection to monitor pothole filling works. Starting from the BBMP head office, he inspected the works on Residency Road, Nrupathunga Road, Upparpet, Hebbal, K.R Puram, Nayandahalli and other areas.
He said, “If the potholes are not filled within two weeks, the concerned ward engineers and executive engineers will be held responsible. They will be dealt with, with iron hand and they have to ensure that potholes on arterial and sub-arterial roads in all the eight zones are filled within two weeks.”
Potholes to be filled in 2 weeks: BBMP
In a huge relief to commuters in the city, the BBMP has committed to fill potholes, relay roads under distress and resurface damaged roads within 2 weeks. This comes as a breather for vehicle users, especially bikers, who are suffering due to bad roads. Taking note of the increasing potholes in the city, BBMP commissioner G.Kumar Naik convened a press conference on Saturday to share the civic agency’s action plan to repair the roads. Addressing the reporters, he said, “The continuous rainfall in the last one month has severely affected many roads and even long stretches of roads are not in motorable condition. Since there has been no rainfall in the last three days, we have already taken up emergency pothole filling works across the city.”
He said that the BBMP was repairing roads on war footing and the focus was to repair arterial and sub-arterial roads, where there is heavy flow of traffic. “We have taken up works on some important roads like Nandi Durga Road, Race Course Road Junction, Bannerghatta Road, Varthur Road, K.G Road and near Yeswanthpura Metro Station. Works are being distributed zonal wise and repair works are planned one day ahead. In case it rains again, we are prepared to stop the repair works too,” he said.
Mr Naik highlighted that BBMP was not spending money on any of the pothole-filling or repair works that have been taken by the agency. He said, “The repair works on all the roads are being carried out under contract liability period, which means the road contractors are bound to repair the roads. Major roads upto 755 km out of over 1,900 km stretch will be repaired and restored by the contractors.”
He said that while 375 km of roads were under contractor defect liability period, tenders were issued to asphalt nearly 380 km of roads. However, since road works have not started on these 380 km, the BBMP has urged the contractors to fill the potholes first and then lay the roads. “Most of the potholed roads need attention and it would become more difficult if the roads are further damaged. Though the road works have not started, we have instructed the contractors to fill potholes and then lay roads,” he added. While most of the arterial and sub-arterial roads will be repaired without BBMP spending a rupee, the BBMP engineers have identified some roads which will be repaired at the cost of Rs 10.64 crore.
‘Not all mishaps due to bad roads’
Close on the heels of slow moving traffic and increasing road accidents in the city, especially those attributed to potholes, BBMP Commissioner G.Kumar Naik asserted that not every road accident was due to potholes. He went to the extent to justify that even if a victim complained that he/she met with an accident due to a pothole, it could not be true as various other reasons cause road accidents. Addressing the reporters on Saturday, Mr Naik said that there were no accurate reasons to point at in pothole-related accident cases.
“If looked at closely, an accident could have occurred due to negligence, speed or any other reason. A pothole is often an excuse,” he maintained. When asked if the BBMP was planning to give compensation to victims injured due to potholes, he said that the focus was to repair roads at the earliest and the BBMP was bound to ensure smooth flow of traffic in the city.
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