Karnataka HC gives BBMP 3-day extension to make Bengaluru pothole-free

BBMP, which was supposed to fill 1,655 potholes, submitted that 1,416 additional potholes had been detected. Out of this, 899 were filled by Thursday.
Karnataka HC gives BBMP 3-day extension to make Bengaluru pothole-free
Karnataka HC gives BBMP 3-day extension to make Bengaluru pothole-free
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The Karnataka High Court on Thursday granted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) time till Monday to fill all potholes in the city. This comes just one day after the Karnataka High Court came down heavily upon the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) over the potholes in the city’s roads and orally ordered that all potholes be filled by Thursday.

The three-day time period was sought by the BBMP’s Engineer-in-Chief (In-charge) MR Venkatesh. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad had told reporters that the work of filling potholes would be carried through the night.

In its affidavit, the BBMP, which was supposed to fill all the 1,655 potholes in the city, submitted that an additional 1,416 potholes were detected. Following the HC’s order on Wednesday, the BBMP said it filled 899 potholes till 6 am on Thursday.

The Hindu reported BBMP in its affidavit stated that Mahadevpura zone was where the highest number of potholes remain at 709.

The bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice SG Pandit, while rapping the BBMP on Wednesday, had said, "It should be zero potholes by tomorrow. It is your job. How you go about it is up to you. Bengaluru has to be put back on its glory from every angle. If you cannot do it, then we would have to take a call. The city cannot be left to anybody’s mercy”.

These proceedings were part of a public interest litigation filed by Vijayan Menon of the Citizens Action Forum and three others, seeking the High Court’s intervention in formulating an action plan to fix the city’s pothole problem among other issues. These other issues include a demand for a mechanism to award compensation to victims of pothole-related road accidents.

Speaking to News18, Anuradha SR, the lawyer representing the petitioners, said, “Our petition was essentially to deal with the situation of bad roads and potholes. Every time it rains, it is hell in Bengaluru. The court has said we will look into filling the potholes first and then look into the other issues."

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court also took note and said that the situation was “frightening” when it was told that a total of 3,597 lives were lost across the country due to potholes.

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