Palike blames BWSSB for delay in pothole filling work

After coming under severe criticism by the high court, the BBMP officials have blamed the BWSSB for digging up roads, which is delaying its potholes filling work.

Speaking at the council meeting, Manjunath Prasad, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner, said: “The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board's (BWSSB) ongoing work to provide water connection to 110 villages in outer areas is affecting our road laying and pothole filling work to a great extent."

"Initially, the board's estimated budget to lay waterlines was Rs 5,100 crore. Later it was reduced to Rs 1,800 crore. Further, the allocated Rs 800 crore for road restoration was also removed. This has cost us a hefty price,” Prasad said.

He said out of 93,000 roads, 23,747 roads were dug up by various agencies, including Gail, Bescom and BWSSB.

“There are no potholes in 59,530 roads. The BWSSB alone has dug up close to 1,700 km of roads (157 km on major roads and 1,531 km on smaller roads). Now, we have received Rs 34 crore from the BWSSB. It will deposit the remaining amount in the coming days,” said Prasad.

Meanwhile, Tushar Girinath, chairman, BWSSB said: “There was a co-ordination committee meeting with Chief Secretary T M Vijaybhaskar on Tuesday, and it has been decided that we deposit the money with the BBMP. We have made the first payment, and the second deposit of Rs 38 crore will be made on Friday.”

Prasad also said BESCOM's recent decision to lay all the overhead power lines underground has posed yet another threat to Palike, as they will dig the roads again.

“Our engineers were also not submitting pothole-related data to the high court scientifically. We have now developed a proper system of producing proper information on the websites,” he said.

Two hot mix plants

The BBMP plans to set up two hot mix plants in the city which can be used to fill potholes.

“When hot mix comes from other places, the temperature will affect the bitumen mix used to fill potholes. We have called tenders to set these plants in the city,” said Prasad.