The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) will be undertaking a safety audit of all flyovers and underpasses in the city for which it has earmarked ₹5 crore. This decision was taken after a portion of Sumanahalli flyover developed a hole on Friday night.
After Friday’s incident, the civic body has come under severe criticism for not maintaining flyovers and other such structures on a regular basis.
“We have earmarked ₹5 crore for the purpose. We will float a tender shortly to select an agency to carry out the work,” said BBMP Commissioner B.H. Anil Kumar.
The fact that the flyover is barely nine years old is cause for concern. It was built by Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) and handed over to the BBMP for maintenance in 2016.
The BBMP commissioner had admitted that the damage to the flyover was caused by poor maintenance work and improperly mixed additives. The stagnation of rain water on the flyover, compounded by the movement of heavy vehicles, made it worse.
Motorists are bracing themselves for a long commute from Monday as traffic will be diverted onto the service road below. Even on Sunday, traffic had piled up on the service road.
The flyover is located on ORR and is a crucial link between Mysuru Road and Tumakuru Road. Though BBMP has promised to fix the problem in 10 days, motorists are demanding that the repair work be completed as early as possibly.
“Thousands of people depend on this flyover every day. The service road is not in a position to accommodate heavy traffic, and on weekdays the traffic problem will become worse,” said Kiran, a motorist.
