The State government on Saturday told the High Court of Karnataka that it had been decided to sanction ₹42 crore to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for immediate cleaning of storm-water drains (SWD) before the process of round-the-year maintenance of the SWDs using robotic excavators begins by floating tenders.
A submission in this regard was made before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice S. Sujatha during the hearing on the public interest litigation (PIL) petitions, related to potholes, SWDs, and illegal hoardings, through which the court is monitoring the actions of the BBMP and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to address various issues.
The Bench during the last hearing had suggested that it was advisable to clean the SWDs once now as it would take some time for the BBMP to finalise the process for regular maintenance system. Till now, the BBMP has been cleaning SWDs once a year before the commencement of the monsoon. While adjourning the hearing on the SWD issue till December 15, the Bench said it expects smooth flowing drains by the next date of hearing.
Biodegradable material
On material to be used as an alternative to banned plastic for displaying advertisements on public toilets, skywalks, and bus shelters that are built under public-private partnership schemes under advertisement revenue model, the BBMP told the Bench that a couple of private agency had submitted a test report that cloth, which they propose to use for displaying advertisements under the project, was made of biodegradable cotton. However, the BBMP said it would wait for a report from the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
Meanwhile, the Bench asked the BBMP to send samples of cloth material submitted by the agencies to the KSPCB, which, in turn, has to get a report on biodegradability of such material from the Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology (CIPET).
Guidelines issued
The BBMP told the Bench that it had issued guidelines for filling potholes based a report submitted by the court commissioners, who had found various technical flaws in pothole-filling methodology besides finding that top engineers of the BBMP were unaware of specifications and technical procedure to be followed in execution of the work.
On removal of illegal hoarding structures, the BBMP told the Bench that only 55 such structures were remaining out of the around 1,700.
