Krishna Byre Gowda addresses a press conference at the GBA office in Bengaluru on October 28. Image: GBA.
Bengaluru: Potholes, broken footpaths, faulty streetlights and leaking water lines in selected Bengaluru wards are set to be tackled together under the GBA’s month-long “Ward One” campaign, beginning November 1.
One ward will be selected from each division across the city’s five corporations. Bengaluru Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda has directed departments to identify problems jointly and resolve as many as possible by the end of November, rather than conduct isolated cleaning drives.
Ward One repairs to cover roads and everyday civic problems
The drive will prioritise road and junction repairs, pothole filling, intensive cleaning and removal of accumulated garbage and construction debris. Damaged footpath kerbstones and slabs, manhole covers and streetlights are also on the checklist, along with dry or potentially hazardous tree branches.
Recent rains have damaged roads in several parts of the city, the minister said during a review of sanitation and civic improvement works. He asked officials to focus on repairing and improving junctions to help ease traffic bottlenecks.
The campaign will bring the GBA, the five city corporations and other agencies into the same ward-level exercise. BESCOM poles and RMU units requiring repair or relocation, leaking water lines and damaged pipelines will be taken up with the departments responsible.
Survey first, then a prioritised action plan
Assistant engineers, junior health inspectors and marshals will use a checklist to survey roads and public spaces. Each identified issue is to be mapped to the department responsible for fixing it, followed by a prioritised action plan.
Divisional committees comprising officials from the relevant departments will coordinate the work, monitor progress and draw up execution plans based on the time required for sanitation and infrastructure improvements.
The announced scope is a selected ward in each division; the release does not list the chosen wards. The stated objective is to address as many identified problems as possible by November-end.
The initiative accompanies the GBA’s separate changes to doorstep garbage collection. The first five packages of the new collection system are expected to start in November.
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Atul Chaturvedi 