Around 1.5 lakh manholes that are situated in the middle of roads across the city will be shifted in a phased manner, Bengaluru City Development Minister K.J. George informed the Legislative Council on Thursday.
Replying to BJP member Tara Anuradha, he said Bengaluru was not a planned city and the manholes that were on one side of the road earlier were now in the middle of the carriageway owing to road widening. As the height of manholes was above the road level in several areas, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) shifted 7,115 manholes in 2014–15, 10,090 in 2015–16 and 16,900 in 2016–17. The remaining ones are being relocated in a phased manner, he said.
On manual scavenging and the death of five persons in two incidents in the city recently, the Minister said the Supreme Court had issued guidelines to be followed while engaging labourers to clean manholes and septic tanks.
He said it was unfortunate that although the BWSSB had trained the cleaning staff, their service was not being utilised by apartment owners because they think it was expensive. Instead, they engage untrained people to clean the clogged manholes, resulting in fatal accidents.
Mr. George cautioned vehicle users to drive/ride carefully on white-topped roads to avoid accidents. Replying to members’ claim that after white-topping the number of road accidents had increased, the Minister said people should exercise caution while driving and riding.
“There are 14,000 km of roads in the city. Last year, we received record rains and many stretches of the roads had been damage. In the wake of this, the government released a special grant of ₹2,000 crore for roadworks. The work has started and will be completed soon,” the Minister said.
Junkyards
To ensure footpaths are made available only for pedestrians, the BBMP is planning to set up junk yards on the city’s outskirts where old vehicles that are now parked on the pavements and vehicles seized by the police could be moved, the Minister said.
