The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Thursday, January 28, told the Karnataka High Court that all potholes in the city had been filled, which comes after the municipal body has repeatedly been pulled up on the matter. In response, the bench reportedly said that they do not feel that the civic body has not done anything, and told them not to say anything “which we ourselves feel is wrong”. This came when a division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice Suraj Govindaraj was hearing a writ petition filed in 2015 after four deaths were caused by bad roads in the city.
The BBMP in a compliance report had reportedly claimed that potholes had been filled on 1,314 km of Bengaluru's major roads out of 1,344 km, and 12,046 km of zonal roads out of 12,527 km. The court termed this report “a total sham” and indicated that action could be taken against officials. The bench also sought the presence of the Chief Engineer in the next hearing, which has been posted for February 7.
In its order, the court said that even a perusal of the compliance report indicated that the city’s roads have not been made pothole-free. "It goes to show that for more than 30 km in major roads and 482 km in zonal ward roads, the filling up of potholes is not done,” the order said.
The court also questioned why potholes develop after every time the city witnesses rains, and asked what technology and procedure the BBMP is using to fill potholes. “Why can’t it be for a longer duration by using better technology? Why after every rain these potholes erupt on every road in the city? That shows the quality of the work you are performing,” the bench said, according to Livelaw.
“The counsel has not been able to show as to what procedure and technology was adopted to carry out the pothole repair work. It is very much clear that after every rain, roads develop potholes,” the bench said in an order.
The bench added that civic agencies such as the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) have been digging roads to carry out works, and questioned if there was any coordination between the agencies and BBMP. It said that the counsel for the BBMP has not been not been able to show what action has been taken against the agencies which were permitted to cut the road but did not complete work within the requisite time period.
"The BBMP shall inform as to what technology is being adopted by them for the repair of the city roads and whether they have engaged any experts and outside agencies who are experts in the construction and repair of roads for this work. The procedure adopted by BBMP shall be brought on record and the policy if any for permitting the agencies or bodies to cut the road and repair it in a time bound manner shall also be placed on record,” the court said in its order.