Another mishap, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike unmoved

BENGALURU: A day after a couple died while trying to avoid a pothole on the Mysore Road flyover, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is yet to wake up to the dangers it can pose to motorists. On Wednesday, a woman and her seven-year-old son sustained minor injuries after their scooter skidded as she tried to avoid a pothole on the same flyover.

What is appalling is that BBMP officials are not even willing to take the responsibility of repairing the stretch. Officials in the Major Roads division and Projects division in the civic agency passed the buck stating that they are not mandated to maintain the road. Just when things seemed to be getting out of hand, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad intervened and directed the Projects division to take up the repair. However, no work had started on Wednesday and it is unlikely to start for the next few days as the BBMP is waiting for the skies to clear up.

Archana, the scooterist who sustained injuries after a fall on Wednesday, said she had to apply brakes suddenly because of pothole and fell as she lost balance. She and her son sustained minor injuries. “Fortunately, no vehicle hit us. It is high time  BBMP repairs these roads and prevent accidents,’’ she said. After Tuesday’s accident, traffic cops were seen placing barricades near the damaged section of the road to  prevent further accidents. They even requested for concrete mix from a construction site nearby to fill the pothole for the time being. “Potholes are a major cause of traffic jams. It’s not our job to fix potholes, but we are doing it to ensure free movement of traffic,’’ a traffic policemen with Chickpet police station said.

The Mysore Road flyover comes under two zones – West and South. Engineers  from both zones claimed that maintainance of the road surface on the flyover does not come under them, but rather the BBMP Major Road division. When contacted, BBMP Executive Engineer (Major roads-South) Dharneendra Kumar said: “It does not come under our jurisdiction. The flyover comes under Projects division. It is their responsibility to maintain it.’’ K T Nagaraj, BBMP Chief Engineer (Projects) said, “Asphalting or pothole-filling is not the task of our division. We only take up construction of flyovers, underpasses and the like. About four years ago, it was the Projects division that changed the joints on the flyover and asphalted it as they had to remove the asphalt surface to fix the joints. Asphalting or filling potholes comes under Major Roads division. Since we had done it earlier, they have dumped it on us. We do not have any contractors. This time, on the Commissioner’s direction, we have taken it up,’’ he said.

According to senior police officials in Chickpet traffic police station  limits, the Mysore Road flyover is one of the busiest roads with frequent traffic jams. “At least three to four such cases occur every day. While some are reported, others don’t come to our notice too,’’ an official said.

Why BBMP engineers are not fixing potholes

* Bitumin should be heated for at least 14 hours, to bind properly. Since its raining, bitumin mix can’t be prepared.
* Due to the wet surfaces, the hot mix does not stick and thus potholes have not been filled.
* Not possible for BBMP authorities to fill potholes on roads with heavy traffic as the roads cannot be closed in the day. During night, when vehicle movement is less, patch works or pothole-filling work can be done.
 * No labourers to fill potholes as they’ve gone to hometowns for Dasara and Deepavali.

BJP accuses BBMP of culpable homicide

Accusing Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George of total failure in filling potholes, BJP leader Suresh Kumar has termed the death of innocent motorists due to potholes in the city as culpable homicide by BBMP. In a letter to George, Kumar lambasted the minister for repeatedly extending the deadline to make roads pothole-free. Citing the recent death of a couple due to potholes, he said, “These killings are continuing  . Why should not a culpable homicide case be slapped against BBMP,” he said.