Traffic police to crack down on illegal digging of busy roads

'All agencies, except BWSSB, must take prior permission'

Anyone digging the road without taking prior permission from the jurisdictional traffic police and the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) authorities will land in jail. The traffic police have decided to crack down on contractors who dig roads indiscriminately. In the past week, they arrested contractors of Bescom and Airtel for digging roads without the necessary permission from the BBMP.

Malik Hussain, who was on his way to a friend’s place in Bellandur, was wondering why the traffic was moving slowly on Sunday morning until he noticed a dug-up road. “The traffic was slow near Marathahalli  bridge as the road was dug by a Bescom contractor. He did not even bother to cover the road properly. It was only after the police filled the hole did the traffic flow become smooth,” Hussain said.

Curiously, the traffic police learnt about some instances of road-digging after people posted about them on the social media. “When we checked, we found that private companies had dug the road for laying telephone and Internet cables. This hampers traffic and causes inconvenience to motorists. They should obtain prior permission so that we can make necessary arrangements for traffic and suggest proper measures like setting up barricades around the dug-up area and putting up warning signs. If required, the traffic can be diverted, too,” the officer said.

The officer took umbrage at how private contractors, Bescom and BBMP officials just walk in and dig the roads. “After digging the road, they do not even cover the stretch properly. This causes fatal accidents and slows down vehicular movement. We will not spare anyone and make sure they are punished,” the officer said.

R Hithendra, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic), said all agencies and contractors, except the BWSSB, must obtain permission before digging busy roads. The BWSSB has been exempted as it attends to emergency services to plug water or sewage flowing on the road. “We have asked the officials concerned to intimate us and obtain permission before carrying out road works. We will tell them about the right time and if there is any VIP movement. We request the public to inform us if they come across any illegal road work on the main roads.”