Bengaluru: As killer potholes increase in the city, there could be some respite soon. For the first time, the BWSSB has taken responsibility to fill potholes and restore road after repairs. Roads in Bengaluru have been severely affected due to the lack of coordination between BBMP and BWSSB, and especially the water board’s disinterest to repair roads after digging them open. The Board has always maintained that it does not have budgetary allocation to restore roads if dug to repair leakages.
Newly-appointed chairman T.M Vijay Bhaskar, however, has taken the responsibility to fill potholes caused by BWSSB. Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Mr Bhaskar maintained that BWSSB had elaborate plans to fix potholes and not just fill them with mud.
“We will fill potholes with quarry dust, let it settle and then add wet mix. Soon after, we will asphalt the potholes. For various reasons potholes caused during digging of roads were not filled by BWSSB. Such potholes were only filled with mud. But from now, we will take responsibility for the potholes we have created,” he said.
Further, he added though there was no special allocation in the budget for road restoration works, the BWSSB would request the state government to allocate funds. “Lack of funds should not be an excuse to not repair roads. It’s the responsibility of all the agencies to ensure that the roads are pothole free,” he said.
Meanwhile, Mr Bhaskar added that the Board would deposit money with the BBMP to fix trenches. “Not all road repair works can be carried out by us. While we will fix the potholes caused during leakage repairs, trenches will have to be repaired by the BBMP. We will deposit the necessary funds with the agency,” he said. He added that better coordination between agencies was needed and the coordination committee meetings chaired by BBMP chairman should become regular.
It can be recalled that in his brief stint as the BBMP administrator T.M Vijay Bhaskar became popular for his quick decision-making ability. Hailed by ministers and even subordinates for his work, he drastically increased the revenue generated in the civic body.
Soudha Chalo on Sept. 27
Outraged by the recent death of a techie's wife after the couple hit a pothole, a few citizens are launching a protest march on September 27 to Vidhana Soudha. The starting point of the march is yet to be decided. The citizens demanded that the government should provide better roads and suburban rail on the lines of cities like Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. "We pay taxes honestly, provide us the most basic infrastructure at least," they said.
