BBMP road milling machine filling the potholes at Guddadahalli bus stop on Ballary road in Bengaluru on Friday. DH Photo.
Even as the city roads continue to be battered and bruised with increasing potholes, the Bruhat Bengauru Mahanagara Palike has decided to put off their repair citing incessant rain.
It was on September 21 that the BBMP decided to introduce milling machines for filling potholes. The machines, bought from Pune, do the job quickly. “It has been raining continuously and we are finding it difficult to use the machine. We are helpless if the rain continues. Moreover, we have only one machine. Therefore, we will asphalt the roads in about a week,” said BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. He added that around 500 km of road would be asphalted.
A senior official of the Palike said that they were concentrating on shoulder drain work to ensure that rainwater flows into rajakaluves. Potholes dot most of the roads in the city. The junction near Queen’s Road, entire stretch from Koramangala to Dairy Circle, Vijayanagar, Jayanagar, Magadi Road, Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet, Mysuru Road and the stretch near Chinnaswamy Stadium are in bad state.
Travelling on pothole-ridden roads has become a nightmare for commuters. “I am living in this city for the past 20 years and this is the worst condition of roads I have witnessed over these years. You do not know how well will you return if you step out of your house,” said Venugopal S, a resident of Banashankari 2nd stage.
“When did they ever start the pothole filling work? If they have done it over the last month, why is it that they have not been able to fill them anywhere?” said Vibha V, a commuter in Koramangala.
Another senior officer of the Palike said that repair of Ballari Road, Sankey Road and C V Raman Nagar Road had already been taken up.
Python, an automated pothole-filling machine, which cost Palike Rs 15.20 crore, is idling for a while. The commissioner said that it was being planned to put both the machines into use.