For motorists on major arterial roads in the city, it could be back to the familiar sight.
Many of Bengaluru’s roads are currently damaged despite repairs being carried in the past few months. Road-cutting by civic utilities has led to leakage in water pipes, and potholes that potentially can become craters.
Incidentally, roads have been damaged in at least 50 locations owing to leakage in water pipes.
Close to 66 kilometres of main roads in the city have been cut or dug up for various works by agencies such as the BWSSB and Bescom, a report prepared by the BBMP, Engineering Department (Major Roads), says.
Many of these roads, which were dug up frequently for various works such as laying cables, replacing sewage pipes or for repairs, have begun reporting water leakages or seepage, posing a potential breakout of potholes in the already potholed roads of the city.
“These 50 locations on arterial and sub-arterial roads were dug up for various works from other agencies and post-repair have reported water leakages,” said K.T. Nagaraj, Chief Engineer (Major Roads) BBMP.
Some of these leakages have been reported from Trinity Circle, M.G. Road, Infantry Road, Koramangala 80 ft road, Sanjaynagar Main Road, Magadi Road near Toll Gate, J.C. Road and at least five leakage points on a stretch in Bannergatta Road. These roads are some of the most frequently used, and, have been found in all eight zones of the BBMP.
“If any agency applies to us to cut the roads for essential works, we cannot really deny them permission,” said Mr. Nagraj.
While it has been a long-standing complaint of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike that the roads which are handed over to be cut for various works are never restored to its original quality thereby, lack of co-ordination between agencies has also been blamed for roads not being repaired in a timely manner resulting in traffic issues.
Sources said the coordination meeting between agencies are taking place once in two weeks, and despite these meetings the problems persists.
Meanwhile, Bescom Chief Engineer Uday Kumar said the BBMP could not blame them.
“Before we start any work involving digging of roads or footpaths, we take permission from the BBMP. And, we restore the same in a time-bound manner. If a road is not well-maintained, it is not our fault.”
The BWSSB has also maintained that they have been attending the co-ordination meetings and fulfilling their responsibilities.
Traffic on the arterial roads where works have been taken up has been affected. Additional Police Commissioner (Traffic) R. Hithendra acknowledged that digging of roads was causing congestion and slowing down traffic on arterial roads. “We have to manage the traffic since these civic agencies have received permission for road digging,” he added.
