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Karnataka high court gives civic body 2 weeks to submit report on potholes
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum, while hearing a petition on the condition of Bengaluru’s roads said that the pothole problem in the city resurfaces within two to three months of filling.
The Karnataka high court on Thursday pulled up the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for its inability to fill potholes in the city. The court directed the civic agency to ensure that filling up potholes are taken up at the earliest and submit a status report within two weeks.
A division bench of acting Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Sachin Shankar Magadum, while hearing a petition on the condition of Bengaluru’s roads said that the pothole problem in the city resurfaces within two to three months of filling.
“BBMP shall also ensure that quality is maintained while filling up the potholes because it is noticed that the potholes which are filled up, again become a pothole, after two to three months,” said the bench.
The counsel for BBMP told the bench that it had entered into an agreement with a single agency to fill up potholes and that this was being done every day. “Every day we are attending to filling up potholes in the entire city. However, because of heavy rains, we could not achieve the target. Wherever necessary we are doing it,” said the BBMP counsel.
The counsel further reassured the court that a status report with all photographs would be filed before the high court.
In response, the bench said that the process adopted by the BBMP for repairing the potholes is not very transparent. “You see potholes only on this Kumara Krupa road, the road in front of 7 ministers’ bungalow, the road towards the high court. But you don’t see potholes of other localities, where the common man lives,” the bench observed orally.
The court also granted the BBMP counsel’s request for two weeks’ time to submit a status report. “Time of two weeks is granted to file a status report. He will also file all documents relating to the procedure adopted to filling up potholes,” the court observed.
Bommai on Wednesday said that a task force has been created to fill the potholes on the roads. “They will look into the condition and repair history of all roads in Bengaluru and report. This will be the first part. The refilling of potholes and other repairs will take place at the same time. We have asked BBMP to finish these works in a scientific manner. We will finish the work of filling all potholes as soon as the rains are over,” the CM said.
When questioned why the work won’t be finished before monsoons are over, Bommai said that the priority was to have a permanent solution to the pothole problem. “From our experience so far, we know areas where there are (pothole) problems. So, we want to fix them properly,” he said.
Karnataka revenue minister on October 1 had said that that all roads in Bengaluru will be pothole-free in 30 days, setting another deadline, after many missed ones, to provide one of the most basic amenities to the residents. R Ashok, Karnataka’s minister for revenue and interim in-charge of Bengaluru city, said an additional ₹1,000 crore has been released for the purpose of fixing roads in the newly added localities of Bengaluru, where damaged roads have added to the nightmarish experience of residents, especially during monsoons.
According to government data, Bengaluru has 13,847 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads, of which only 295 km are said to be in good condition and another 246 km have now been ridden of potholes.
