The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike has missed yet another deadline for filling potholes in the city, nearly two weeks after Administrator Gaurav Gupta had issued a 10-day deadline to engineers to do the same. Explaining the reason for the delay some engineers have blamed the unusual January rains for not being able to start the work. Another reason that has been cited is lack of sufficient hot mix as the in-house hot mix plant for the BBMP is partially closed for the repairs. However, Gaurav Gupta and Commissioner N Manjunatha Prasad have said that sufficient hot mix has been supplied to various parts of the city. It has been reported that the task has not begun in the city’s Bommanahalli, Yelahanka, West Zone and South Zone areas. In several other areas, residents and other citizens’ associations have expressed anger and dissatisfaction about the work that has been done, which according to them is shoddy. 

“We must understand that there are nearly 15,000 km of roads in Bengaluru and over time traffic also has increased a lot. Before, we used to take a week to fill a pothole but we have improved the process from seven days to just two days. Despite this, roads will keep getting damaged and to imagine that one day all potholes would be gone is not possible. However, we are working to make Bengaluru pothole-free,” BS Prahalad, Chief Engineer (Roads), BBMP told TNM.

Meanwhile many roads in the city are in a deplorable condition due to ongoing Smart City Project, water pipe laying and metro construction works. BBMP officials said that the roads will be repaired only after the works done on them are completed.  

However, residents are unhappy with the pace and quality of work done by the civic body engineers.

“In our area there has been no work done at all. While travelling to other areas, I have seen the work done here and there. It is such a shoddy job that one good rain will wash it away. All the repairs are done for namesake and it really doesn’t do much to improve roads. On the contrary, when they are improperly repaired, the potholes get worse and the loose stones create a dangerous surface to ride on.” N Ravi, a resident of Bengaluru’s Kathriguppe, told TNM.