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Rs 3-cr makeover project makes a mess of MG Road
The “beautification” of Mahatma Gandhi Road to impress global investors ahead of the Invest Karnataka Summit has made the road an eye sore. The attempt to beautify the one-km stretch from Anil Kumble Circle to the Webbs Junction has been shoddy.
There is nothing to show for the Rs three crore spent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the Invest Karnataka meet – a rephrased word for the government’s Global Investors' Meet. A senior Palike engineer said the project was sanctioned long ago, but was being executed in a hurry to meet the deadline for Invest Karnataka, which started on Wednesday.
The exercise is meant only to give a 'feel good' factor to investors coming to Bengaluru. The loosely-placed kerb stones on the poor concrete foundation and mortar are losing their grip. Lack of curing, substandard and incomplete patchwork reflect the standard of the BBMP, which is often accused of inferior work and scams.
An engineer associated with the project clarified that the work does not include improving the pavement. “The job assigned to us is replacing old kerb stones of the pavement with the new ones. We have not been asked to repair or replace tiles on the pavement, which are either missing or are damaged while placing new kerb stones,” the engineer said. He said he would consider filling the gap between the footpath and the kerb stones with concrete.
Manohar H N, who frequently visits MG Road said there was no need to remove the old kerb stones. He said, “All that was required was to maintain the existing structure. In the name of beautifying or upgrading the existing pavement, the Palike has ruined it. If the BBMP was really so worried about MG Road, it should have filled the rough patches and the BWSSB manholes whose lids have been placed haphazardly. Many pedestrians have stumbled on it and fallen.”Manohar said the motive behind the renovation was not to improve the road but to destroy it.
There is nothing to show for the Rs three crore spent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the Invest Karnataka meet – a rephrased word for the government’s Global Investors' Meet. A senior Palike engineer said the project was sanctioned long ago, but was being executed in a hurry to meet the deadline for Invest Karnataka, which started on Wednesday.
The exercise is meant only to give a 'feel good' factor to investors coming to Bengaluru. The loosely-placed kerb stones on the poor concrete foundation and mortar are losing their grip. Lack of curing, substandard and incomplete patchwork reflect the standard of the BBMP, which is often accused of inferior work and scams.
An engineer associated with the project clarified that the work does not include improving the pavement. “The job assigned to us is replacing old kerb stones of the pavement with the new ones. We have not been asked to repair or replace tiles on the pavement, which are either missing or are damaged while placing new kerb stones,” the engineer said. He said he would consider filling the gap between the footpath and the kerb stones with concrete.
Manohar H N, who frequently visits MG Road said there was no need to remove the old kerb stones. He said, “All that was required was to maintain the existing structure. In the name of beautifying or upgrading the existing pavement, the Palike has ruined it. If the BBMP was really so worried about MG Road, it should have filled the rough patches and the BWSSB manholes whose lids have been placed haphazardly. Many pedestrians have stumbled on it and fallen.”Manohar said the motive behind the renovation was not to improve the road but to destroy it.
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