Bumpy Ride In Bengaluru This Monsoon: Rain Washes Away BBMP's Pothole Quick Fixes
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With the monsoon expected to hit Karnataka early this year, in the first week of June, the civic body is now scrambling to fill potholes and rush through pending road work.
The BBMP's recent pothole-filling drive has come undone – heavy rains over the last few days have washed away the quick-fix patches, leaving Bengaluru's roads back to their broken, battered state.
'Last week, we filled around 1,395 potholes. We'll now conduct an evaluation. A few more have cropped up — information keeps coming in and we will address each location as it's reported," Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao told News18.
With the monsoon expected to hit Karnataka early this year, in the first week of June, the civic body is now scrambling to fill potholes and rush through pending road work before the rains arrive.
Rao added that all teams are on standby to ensure normal life isn't disrupted. 'Yes, more potholes may have surfaced. Our engineers will attend to them as and when we get location data. The goal is to reduce turnaround time for such issues, and also revamp the city into the global brand it is known to be," he said.
Bengaluru is bracing for a projected week of rain, and with it comes the city's familiar cocktail of flooded roads, snarled traffic, and the infamous pothole menace. The BBMP, however, insists it is geared up to avoid a repeat of previous years' chaos.
'Our assumption is that Bengaluru can handle up to 60-70 mm of rainfall without major waterlogging," Rao said. 'The drainage systems are in place. We've installed surveillance cameras across key locations to monitor water levels in real time. Our control rooms are on high alert. If canals begin to overflow or any area shows signs of distress, we'll move in immediately," Rao said.
But the real test is whether this preparedness will hold. In September last year, after Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar ordered a large-scale pothole repair drive, the BBMP claimed to have filled thousands of potholes across the city. Yet, those short-term fixes have now collapsed, and the city's motorists are once again paying the price for substandard work.
Adding to the pressure, last month BJP MP Tejasvi Surya lashed out at the BBMP after participating in the TCS World 10K run in Bengaluru. In an open letter to Minister Shivakumar and then BBMP Commissioner Tushar Girinath, Surya called the city's infrastructure 'pathetic" and said the pride of the international event was quickly overshadowed by broken paths and dangerous potholes.
'Not a single stretch was pothole-free. Runners, including senior citizens and wheelchair participants, stumbled and were injured," Surya wrote. He termed it a 'missed opportunity" to showcase Brand Bengaluru on the world stage and questioned the civic body's preparedness despite hosting a world level athletic event.
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