The badly damaged road near BHEL on Mysuru Road on Wednesday. DH PHOTO
A day after potholes claimed the lives of a couple on the Sirsi Circle flyover, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has taken up the work of filling up of potholes on priority.
Work started on Tuesday night but it was stalled midway due to rain. A senior BBMP official said all assistant executive engineers, including chief engineer for road infrastructure Somashekar S and chief engineer road (projects) K T Nagaraj, have been involved in this work.
The civic body has formed a special team to ensure the completion of work within 10 days or a fortnight. The team comprises all joint commissioners, chief engineers, seven assistant engineers and two assistant executive engineers.
The work had begun on Tuesday midnight in Mahadevapura, Nandidurg Road, Sirsi Circle flyover and Hebbal railway overbridge. “Though we began work, it was stalled due to rain,” said Mayor R Sampath Raj.
“We filled around 1,000 potholes on the first day itself despite the rain. We were ready with the hot bitumen mix for filling of potholes, but the work was stalled due to rain,” added Raj. Asphalting work has begun and the Python machine is also put back into use. “The milling process will also be undertaken. It was stopped for a while since importance was given to shoulder drains to prevent water logging,” said another senior official in BBMP.
Besides resuming work on Sirsi Circle flyover and Mahadevapura, work was taken up in Krishnarajapuram, HAL Colony, Jayamahal Main Road and Mehkri Circle.
Mayor R Sampath Raj was seen receiving complaints at the main BBMP control room on Wednesday evening as the city witnessed rainfall in certain parts. Raj instructed all officials in the forest department to be ready to clear the remains of uprooted trees and also alerted other officials to be ready to attend to people’s problems.