The beleaguered Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is determined to meet the deadline set by the High Court of Karnataka to rid the city of potholes by Monday morning.
While officials are confident of fixing all 763 potholes, citizens and motorists are questioning the quality of work and the civic body’s focus on core city areas and arterial roads. Many claim that interior roads are being left out and bad reaches ignored.
D.S. Rajashekhar, president of the Citizens’ Action Forum, on Sunday said potholes in many wards in the outer zones had not been fixed. Residents’ welfare associations have expressed concern over the patchwork weathering the rain and heavy vehicular traffic.
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Srinivasamurthy Vasudev from Girinagar Residents’ Welfare Association alleged that the BBMP was not following any scientific method to identify potholes. “They are randomly arriving at some number. They are yet to make public the parameters used to identify the potholes, the number of potholes on a particular road etc.,” he said.
‘IRC guidelines being flouted while filling potholes’
The BBMP has defended the quality of its work in the pothole-filling exercise in the face of criticism from motorists as well as several residents’ welfare associations.
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Experts, however, claim that BBMP engineers are not following the guidelines set by the Indian Road Congress (IRC), and that the potholes are likely to reappear following a spell of rain.
According to R.K. Jaigopal, former member of the Highway Standards and Specifications Apex Committee, IRC, to fill any pothole, it first has to be cut into a geometric shape and the area cleaned. Following this, a granular sub-base, wet mix macadam and bituminous macadam have to be put in, and then a final wearing coat of bituminous concrete. “This is the standard procedure. For emergency fixing, a cold mix may be used, but the pothole needs to be thoroughly cleaned. BBMP workers don’t seem to be following this, which is why the pothole filling may not last long,” he said on Sunday.
BBMP’s Engineer-in-Chief M.R. Venkatesh told The Hindu that the civic body was confident of tackling all potholes by Monday morning. “We are working round the clock to ensure that all potholes are filled,” he said, and rubbished claims that the IRC guidelines were not being followed.
The civic body is sourcing asphalt for pothole filling from 23 plants on the outskirts of the city. “If the depth is more, engineers are asked to apply a base coat after an asphalt mix. This will ensure that the work is long lasting and potholes don’t reappear,” he said. The BBMP has also instructed contractors to fill the potholes on roads under the defect-liability period.