Pothole spike in Bengaluru: 3,600 in May; 23,300 in August

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (

BBMP

) has admitted to a six-fold increase in the number of potholes in the past three months.


In May, before the

onset of monsoon

, the BBMP had identified 3,629 potholes and vowed to fill them up in a few weeks. Since then, the number of identified potholes has increased dramatically. A BBMP engineering section official told TOI the city had 23,326 potholes as of August 29. He added that 21,386 — or, 91% — of them have been filled up.

Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy

and his deputy,

G Parameshwara

, saddled with Bengaluru development, have been keeping a tab on the matter. Kumaraswamy had in June said the pothole-filling exercise would not be taken up in a haphazard manner this time.


‘BBMP spends Rs 60 of every Rs 100 assigned for roads’

Parameshwara was updating citizens through tweets on the number of potholes identified and filled. The exercise stopped after a while.

“These numbers are questionable as the city has countless potholes. Due to the inherent corruption in the system, the BBMP spends only Rs 60 of every Rs 100 when it comes to constructing roads, and so the material they use is substandard,” traffic expert MN Sreehari said, adding the potholes filled with mud in a few places would open every time it rained.

Motorists are unimpressed and said that when it rains, the potholes fill up with water, and pose a serious risk, especially at night. “There have been potholes on 4th Cross in Nanjareddy Colony, near Indiranagar, for a year. Some are so dangerous that bikers can seriously injure their back,” said Nikhil Arora, a resident.

Hoping to prevent accidents and jams, traffic police were seen filling potholes on 80ft Road in Koramangala last week, near RV Circle and on RV Road this week.

Sreehari believes it costs between Rs 550 and Rs 650 to fill a square-metre

pothole

. Palike engineers said Rs 20 lakh has been set aside for each of the 198 wards to fix these craters. These funds will be used to fix craters only on the roads which are no longer under the defect liability period in which contractors make good the lapse at their own cost.

“There are 93,000 roads within our limits — a huge range — and we are attempting to ensure all roads are free of undulations. Many potholes are caused by digging up of roads by civic utility companies,” said MR Venkatesh, engineer-inchief, BBMP.