16,000 Potholes, only 2 ‘pythons’

BENGALURU:  Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s 15-day deadline to fill 15,935 potholes on city roads has drawn focus once again to the ‘Pythons’, an automated pothole- filling machine. But with just two such machines, will the BBMP achieve the target? Road experts say what is needed is a full-depth repair of roads, and for this, you require more Pythons. Just a week ago, at a meeting of zonal officers and engineers, BBMP revealed that there are nearly 16,000 potholes in the city. Vivek Menon, a member of Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning, Indian Institute of Science, said, “These are not small isolated potholes.

The Python works for 2 feet by 3 feet or 1m by 1m. For large potholes, we need full -depth repair.” He added, “A full-depth repair will take at least three hours. First, the BBMP has to rate the severity of the pothole and prioritise which ones to fill. This will require more Pythons.” Explaining a full-depth repair, he said, “You need to cut out that much of the road, make sure you stabilise the underlying layers, introduce the wet mix macadam (broken stone mixed with tar or bitumen).

On top of that comes the bituminous concrete and finish it with dense bituminous concrete. Those are the three layers needed to fill a pothole properly.” Adding only asphalt or bituminous concrete will not bind it to underlying layers and it will be flushed out the next time it rains. “This is what is happening periodically for the past 10 years.

Costs will be reduced by 60 per cent if it is done scientifically,” he said. Bituminous concrete has to be put in at a certain temperature only. Civic expert V Ravichandar said, “If BBMP wants to reduce cost of filling potholes, it has to do it scientifically and automation is the way to go about it.” BBMP Chief Engineer Somashekhar S was unavailable for comment.

Lokayukta notice to BBMP over pothole deaths

Bengaluru: KARNATAKA

Lokayukta has initiated suo motu proceedings against civic authorities over the deaths caused by potholes in the city. Observing that it is the duty of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to maintain city’s roads as per the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (KMC) Act, Lokayukta Justice P Vishwanatha Shetty asked the civic authorities to fill potholes right away, to protect innocent lives. In a notice to BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad and authorities connected with the civic body, Justice Shetty asked them to submit the status report by October 23, the next date of hearing.

“No human life can be put to jeopardy or their safety cannot be threatened on account of bad conditions of the road. Any inferior/ substandard quality of work on account of deficiency in execution of the work by the contractor or supervision by the concerned authorities of the BBMP is required to be held accountable and it is a matter of serious concern and requires to be investigated,” Justice Shetty said.