Just months after it was asphalted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Ali Askar Road has been dug up by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). In Mahadevapura zone, Nallurahalli Road was suddenly dug up by BWSSB to change water pipelines. Civic officials claim that this was done without permission from the BBMP.
The lack of coordination among various civic agencies is often the main reason behind indiscriminate road-cutting and slow progress of infrastructure work, all which inconvenience citizens. This comes despite Chief Minister Siddaramaiah forming a coordination committee and directing all civic agencies and utility companies to meet at least once a week to reduce the communication gap. So far, four such meetings have taken place.
However, senior BBMP officials, while citing Ali Askar Road and Nallurahalli Road, claimed that coordination between the agencies, especially the BWSSB, is only for namesake. They are also unhappy with optic fibre cable companies for digging up roads to lay cables and, at times, damaging other utilities, such as water and sanitary pipelines, telephone and power lines.
A senior BBMP official said, “We should have a culture of restoring a road to its original condition within 24 hours of cutting it. Coordination meetings have begun, but we still have a long way to go.”
However, BWSSB officials said that the only way to prevent such incidents would be for the BBMP to share the list of roads to be developed or asphalted with all the utility companies and government agencies. “If this is done, then the utilities can check on their lines in advance and rectify the faults, if any. The road can be developed after this is done,” said S. Krishnappa, BWSSB’s Engineer-in-Chief.
About digging up Ali Askar Road, he said that this was done due to the problem at the construction site of Legacy Global Projects Pvt. Ltd. on Cunningham Road. The aim was to ensure that water supply to Shivajinagar is not disrupted. He also said that the BWSSB would deposit Rs. 1 crore with the BBMP towards restoration of Nallurhalli Road.
Three BWSSB engineers booked
The lack of coordination between different agencies came to the fore once again with the traffic police filing cases against three BWSSB engineers who were booked under Section 283 (obstructing traffic) and Section 341 (wrongful restraint).
The K.R. Puram traffic police filed an FIR after BWSSB dug up the ITPL Main Road without seeking permission from them. “Traffic was thrown off gear and we had to allow two-way traffic on a one-way road. Had we been informed, we would have made alternative arrangement to minimise inconvenience to commuters,” said Chandrashekhar K Baba, Deputy Commissioner of Police (East).
