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A massive sinkhole appeared on the busy Ittamadu main road in south Bengaluru on January 20, the third such incident this month. According to officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), there was a leak in an underground water pipeline, which caused the soil to loosen and a sinkhole to form. While civic officials began repair works soon after, the incident has left citizens concerned about the crumbling infrastructure.
Earlier, on January 17, a section of the road in Bengaluru’s Mahalakshmi Layout caved in after a tanker drove over it. The road was asphalted only five days before the incident after the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) carried out pipe-laying works. According to reports, officials said the cave-in was a result of a suspected leak in the pipes. The incident occurred just days after a sinkhole was seen in central Bengaluru.
On January 12, a massive sinkhole was seen at Shoolay Circle in Ashok Nagar, which is an arterial road. A man riding a bike was severely injured when he swerved to avoid it and was rushed to the hospital. The BBMP initially claimed that the sinkhole was a result of tunnelling work for the Bengaluru metro. However, officials of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) denied this. “When the cavity occurred, we saw that there was water in it. So my guess is this has no direct connection with our tunnelling. If there is any connection to tunnelling at this spot, the water would enter the tunnel and escape,” BMRCL Executive Director Siddanagowda Hegga Reddy said.
Opposition parties have accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of negligence. Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala called for Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s resignation over the matter, while the Aam Aadmi Party accused the government of corruption and negligence.
Sinkhole forms near Bengaluru’s Brigade Road
— TheNewsMinute (@thenewsminute) January 13, 2023
While the BBMP blamed the Metro tunnelling work for the road caving in, BMRCL claimed it was a weak pocket on the road. The News Minute’s @thekorahabraham reports. #Bengaluru #BMRCL #Sinkhole #BBMP pic.twitter.com/ORxA2E3wp3