The BBMP, which recently said that there were 10,656 potholes in the city, has missed its own deadline of November 10 for fixing them. Truly bizarre, however, is the civic agency’s claim that only 742 potholes remain! A short ride through some of the city’s busiest areas will prove otherwise, for stretches in parts of Indiranagar, Koramangala and Majestic are ridden with potholes. The whole process of filling potholes is just another money-making exercise for the BBMP, for it only takes one spell of rain to wash away its efforts, reports Aknisree Karthik
A ride on any of the major arterial roads proves that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has got it's math wrong when it comes to potholes. A ride across the city will prove that there are countless potholes in the city. And on stretches where the civic body has filled potholes, it has just done some patch work urgently to meet its November 10 deadline of filling up all potholes.
Potholes filled by BBMP across certain stretches in the city have already begun to reappear. The civic body, which claimed there are 10, 656 potholes across the city, set a deadline of November 10, by which it promised to fill all of them. However, roads in some of the busiest areas, including Indiranagar, Koramangala, Majestic, Bull Temple Road, Chickpet, Vidyaranyapura, R.R. Nagar, Uttarahalli and Whitefield are ridden with potholes and very hard to traverse.
"Over 800 square kilometres are within the BBMP's area of jurisdiction. This is a very vast area, how has BBMP concluded that there are only 10,656 potholes? By what means have they arrived at such a figure," demands Rajashekar, an insurance agent. His job involves extensive commuting across the city, which he says is ridden with countless potholes. "The BBMP's figure is far from the truth," he says.
"What qualifies as a pothole for the BBMP? There are craters resembling the ones over the moon's surface and we do not know why the BBMP has not counted them," alleges Shruthi, a resident of Vidyaranyapura.
"This business of filling potholes is little more than a money-making exercise," says Naveen Yadav, a student. "The BBMP never should have allowed such poor quality roads to be laid in the first place. If the standards had been up to par at the start, there would not have been any potholes at all. Second, after the potholes develop on these badly-made roads, BBMP comes up with its bizarre statistics, then claims it requires crores of rupees to fix them all," he says. "Besides, the work done to fill the potholes is also sub-standard," he adds. "A heavy spell of rain could wash away their efforts. Then, the BBMP will chant its mantra of 'pothole filling works' again, with a new set of figures and deadlines."
Assurances just remain on paper and are not translating into action. Bengaluru City Mayor Mr Gautam Kumar was not available for comment.
