The city traffic police are a relieved lot at present. Reason: The work of pothole fillings and road repairs are being carried out by the civic authorities at what they consider, a reasonably good speed.
"As elections are round the corner, the government is on a war-footing to finish road repair and pothole filling works to impress upon people," says a senior traffic police officer, who did not want to be named.
Unprecedented rains in the recent past destroyed the city roads. While a few road patches were washed away by continuous flow of rain water, most of the potholes that emerged were due to water-logging. Stormwater had no place to drain away.
Traffic congestion due to bad roads and potholes are everywhere in the city. It is not confined to any specific area in the city. "Wherever it rained and water-logging happened, the roads were damaged. We did our best to decongest traffic temporarily by re-directing vechicles s through service roads, by-lanes or other approach roads nearby," the officer explains.
Earlier, when the rains were incessant and tree falls frequent throughout the city blocking traffic, the police did a commendable job. "Some of our men were seen even filling potholes to keep the traffic moving," he points out.
The traffic police have now stopped filling potholes over the last one month. "Our duty now is to inform the BBMP about repair works that need to be done," says R Hithendra, Additional Commissioner of Police Traffic.
So, what should be done on priority? Hithendra explains: "Let the work of white-toppings by BBMP be carried out fast. Let the work of BWSSB laying UGD pipes be taken up quickly and let the BMRCL erect pillars soon to give us the roads free, after which the city traffic can be streamlined in an effective manner."