Potholes on major roads to be filled by November 15

However, BBMP does not have the money to restore roads that have been dug up

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has promised to take up the pothole menace on a war footing after a slew of complaints over the deteriorating quality of roads in the core and outer areas of the city. However, restoration of dug-up roads will not be taken up immediately due to financial constraints.

BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad on Saturday announced that a deadline of November 15 has been set for filling up potholes on 1,300 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads. Those on other roads will be filled by the end of November.

The civic body has commissioned the hot mix plant at Kannur, which will be used to fill craters. Around 10 truck loads of asphalt were being produced at the plant every day. “Over the next 10 days, the production will be increased to 20 truck loads, and 10 days after that, it will be increased to over 30 truck loads of asphalt/hot mix,” said Mr. Prasad.

Labour shortage

Though restrictions have eased, migrant labourers who left their hometowns during the lockdown are yet to return. According to Mr. Prasad, labour remains a problem and efforts are being made to convince them to return to the city.

The civic body has 10 teams, each with 25 personnel, working across the city. “More teams will be constituted to attend to bad reaches. While the five outer zones will have a total of 15 teams, six teams will be dedicated for the three core zones,” he added.

With repeated complaints about slow execution of work on underpasses, flyovers, white-topping, grade separators, the Commissioner admitted that this was due to delay in clearing bills of contractors executing these projects. Bills had not been cleared for nearly one year.

“We have begun clearing bills of contractors,” he said and added that work on the flyover at Shivananda Circle will be completed in four months.

Dug-up roads

Several roads, mainly in the outer zones, are in deplorable condition as they have been dug up by various agencies. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) had dug up nearly 3,113 km of roads for drinking water and underground sewage pipelines.

BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said, “Earlier, the board would give ₹6 lakh per km for road restoration. However, this has stopped. The BBMP cannot restore roads owing to financial constraints. We will now focus on filling potholes.”

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