It is raining potholes in Bengaluru and looks like they are here to stay. As of Wednesday, an official of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike counted 9,000 potholes in the city.
Palike officials say that the heavy bouts of rain has caused even more damage. Although a senior official said that around 9,000 potholes were counted, the Palike maintains that there are only 6,000 of them.
On August 23, the BBMP had identified nearly 5,067 potholes and said that it was in the process of filling them.
“The pothole filling job has not yet started. The asphalting will begin on Thursday. We have decided to use milling machines for covering the potholes. We will have to remove the existing road from the pothole area and redo it,” said BS Prahallad, Executive Engineer, BBMP Road Widening.
He said that this method is used during while concretizing roads but condition of the city’s roads demands that white-topping be the only solution.
“Until now the method of fixing potholes was to fill them with a mix of asphalt and concrete. But every time there is rain, these potholes appear again. This is because the moisture loosens the asphalt,” he added.
The milling methodology is much more expensive than just filling up the potholes. However, a senior official with the Palike said that the condition of the roads is such that they have no other option.
“This is a serious issue. Compared to last year, the potholes in the city has almost doubled. There are around 9,000 potholes in 954 km of roads. That is roughly 9 potholes per road,” the official said.
Potholes across the city have not only multiplied but become bigger and deeper in the wake of heavy rain in the city over the past few weeks, and have rendered several roads unserviceable.
On September 1, a 54-year-old man, who just wanted to avoid a pothole ended up getting knocked down by a minivan resulting in the amputation of one of his legs.
“Work can be carried out between 10pm and 4 am. As it has been raining heavily, it has not been possible to continue the work,” Prahallad said.
"If the jelly gets wet in the rain, it cannot be used for repairing the potholes. The jelly has to be mixed with bitumen and heated. If the jelly is wet it won’t work,” he said.
However, the senior Palike official said that the road repair and maintenance work has to be carried out during the summer months as it is impossible to fix the potholes properly when the roads are wet.
“There should be no moisture while pouring asphalt into potholes. If it is done when the roads are wet, the repair work won’t last for a long time,” he added.