A huge sinkhole formed on an arterial road in Bengaluru, causing a massive traffic jam on Thursday, December 16. Several photos of the huge sinkhole in the middle of JC Road, situated in the heart of Bengaluru, were widely shared on social media. Some photos showed a man standing inside the deep sinkhole as civic agencies cordoned off a part of the road and undertook work.
When TNM reached out to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Engineer (Road and Infrastructure) BS Prahalad, he said, “The sinkhole had formed yesterday (Wednesday) night. A preliminary report suggests that there might have been an old well there and it has caved in now. The other possibility that is emerging now is that there is a sewage pipeline there and it was damaged. As a result, it might have drawn in mud from the place. We are looking into the incident.”
Prahalad further said that there were no accidents or any other untoward incident due to the formation of the sinkhole.
In September this year, another huge sinkhole had opened up near Bengaluru’s Tannery Road due to tunnel boring operations by the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL). Officials had said that there used to be a well there earlier at that time as well. When asked about such old wells giving way, Prahalad said, “There is nothing to worry about. This could happen once a year or once in six months for various reasons.”
Road caves in on the busy JC Road, #Bengaluru in front of Ravindra Kalakshetra causing huge traffic jam.
— Pushkar V (@pushkarv) December 16, 2021
BBMP officials are at the spot.@DeccanHerald @nkaggere pic.twitter.com/yXJFxJZfQA
Image credit: Syed Asif
Earlier this week, a BJP MLA from Bengaluru took his own party’s ruling government in Karnataka to task over the poor condition of roads in the city. Addressing the Winter Session of the Karnataka Assembly on Tuesday, December 14, Aravind Limbavali, the MLA of Mahadevapura constituency in Bengaluru, complained that there was a lack of coordination between various civic agencies.
“I've been given very little funds… If you want to restore the roads and allocate just Rs 1,000 crore, it won't be enough. Rains have stopped and the roads must be restored in Bengaluru,” Aravind Limbavali had said.
“Apart from this, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is putting in pipelines. Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) is also digging up roads. There is absolutely no coordination among them. Only if there is some coordination among them, will Bengaluru and its roads be spared. Everybody starting from social media users have been criticising. The government’s stand on the city must be told,” Limbavali added.