Citing inaction on the part of civic authorities in tackling the pothole menace, the Aam Aadmi Party-Karnataka has lodged over 75 complaints in around 40 police stations across the city against former councillors and officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
At a press conference on Wednesday, president of AAP’s Bengaluru unit Mohan Dasari said that despite several deadlines, the condition of city roads remains deplorable. “This year alone, eight persons have lost their lives in accidents caused by potholes. These are cases of ‘involuntary manslaughter’ and civic officials, contractors and elected representatives must be held responsible for deaths and injuries,” he said.
A few weeks ago, AAP had launched a helpline and urged citizens to report potholes in their areas. “Over 1,000 people responded. We promised them legal aid to file cases against BBMP officials and elected representatives. However, none came forward as they were scared of the repercussions. Therefore, at the ward level, AAP members registered complaints in the jurisdictional police stations,” he said and added that complaints have been registered against 35 former councillors.
Ashok Mrutunjaya from AAP’s Mahadevapura unit alleged that party members were made to wait for hours and that the police refused to register complaints. “Mahadevapura Assembly constituency has the worst roads and ironically generates the most tax in the city. The roads in Bellandur, Varthur and Kadugodi wards are in a deplorable condition. The Bellandur police station did not register the complaint and we were made to wait for hours,” he alleged.
Recently, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai stated that ₹20,000 crore had been spent on roads in the city. Demanding a detailed account on the spend on roads, Mr. Dasari demanded an investigation into the same by a high-powered committee. “Civic Chief Gaurav Gupta has given another deadline of seven days. At the end of 7 days, if even a single pothole remains, we will lay siege to the BBMP,” he threatened.
Naganna, vice president of AAP’s city unit, said filing criminal cases was the preliminary stage. “We are also contemplating on filing a writ petition in the High Court of Karnataka seeking a CBI inquiry into the money that has been spent on roads,” he said.
