Church St. cobblestones loosen twice in 6 months

For the second time in six months, cobblestones laid on the renovated Church Street are coming loose. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has identified about five to six ‘bad patches’ along the street where cobblestones have got dislodged, and the civic body has begun repairing them by strengthening the base.

A BBMP worker who was repairing cobblestones near Indian Coffee House on Friday afternoon said they were replacing the cobblestone after strengthening them with cement in the same place. He said heavy traffic was one of the reasons why they were coming loose.

Lokesh, executive engineer, TenderSURE project, BBMP said officials are closely monitoring the work. “A total of 2.5 lakh cobblestones have been laid on the street. Since this is still in the defect liability period, we are asking the contractors to do the work,” said Lokesh. K T Nagaraj, chief engineer, road infrastructure, (projects), BBMP said pouring water on the street is also another reason for this problem. “A house near the Rest House Road junction is using a hosepipe to pour water on the street. This has become a huge problem,” he said.

Nagaraj said they will soon lodge a police complaint against this menace. “We have sent a notice to the resident,” he said. The Church Street remodelling project under TenderSURE has cost the civic body Rs 14 crore and was inaugurated in March this year by former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The project was earlier scheduled to have been completed by August 2017.