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Even as potholes claim precious lives, BBMP resorts to ‘cosmetic surgery’: HC
BENGALURU:
Clearly dissatisfied with the quality of pothole repairs carried out by Bengaluru’s civic agency, the High Court of Karnataka on Wednesday directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to conduct a quality audit of the pothole filling/resurfacing/repair undertaken by contractors hired by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The HC has further directed NHAI to submit a detailed report in the matter within four weeks.
Expressing dismay over the bad condition of Bengaluru roads, the HC observed that even six years after a public interest litigation (PIL) had been filed in this regard, and notwithstanding several HC orders and BBMP affidavits over the years, “the road conditions in Bengaluru city are not very positively changed and the unfortunate sufferers are the citizens of the city.”
Referring to the avoidable deaths of citizens which occur periodically due to potholes, the HC noted, “This court also observed in various orders that the condition of roads and particularly potholes led to unfortunate loss of precious human lives.” On a sharp note, the court observed that BBMP seemed to be engaged in “cosmetic surgery of roads”.
BBMP’s usual ‘stats’
As on earlier occasions, BBMP submitted a report to the court on Wednesday which claimed that out of 25,032 potholes identified, 13,843 were filled, others were in the process of being repaired and approximately 6,689 potholes would be filled within four weeks.
To its question on the quality of pothole repair by BBMP-allocated contractors, the court was told that civic body files a ‘satisfaction certificate’ after such repairs are completed. Expressing its dissatisfaction with such an arrangement, the HC noted the absence of independent third party assessment of the pothole-filling work and directed the chief engineer of NHAI to conduct a personal inspection or assign a senior engineer for the job and submit a report. As per the HC, the NHAI report should assess the quality of the pothole-repair work, pinpoint any dereliction of duty by BBMP or assigned contractors, and provide its own suggestions. The court clarified that notwithstanding the NHAI survey, BBMP’s pothole-filling work should continue.
‘Sleeping on contract’
Earlier on Monday, the HC on Monday had directed BBMP to file a report on the court’s specific questions on pothole repairs. One of the major questions of the HC was why BBMP did not renew the contract of the agency which was filling potholes using advanced machinery and why the civic body did not start the process of appointing a new agency even after the original contract ended in January 2022.
On Wednesday, BBMP submitted before the HC that it was launching a public app whereby potholes can be identified through GPS coordinates. According to BBMP, the app had been developed by a private agency and was tested by BBMP and the traffic police in May this year.
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