BBMP chief’s big promise: New roads across city by Nov-end

Unveiling a grand plan of action, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath has vowed to fix all the city roads by the end of November.

“As per the forecast, Bengaluru will receive rains until September 7. During this period, we will temporarily fix the roads by putting cement concrete and cold mix,” Girinath said while answering a question about increasing potholes and deterioration of roads across the city.

“From the second week of September, which is when the weather is expected to be dry, we will use the hot mix from our plant to fill the potholes,” the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief added.

Roadworks

Flush with funds, the BBMP plans to take up full-fledged roadworks in the first or second week of October. “We have completed the tender process. We will start the work in October. By November, we will have all new roads. Potholes will not be there,” the BBMP chief promised.

The civic body’s timeline to fix the roads also matches the state government’s plan to hold the BBMP polls by the end of December.

Of the Rs 6,000-crore grant released under the Chief Minister’s Nava Nagarothana programme, a major chunk of Rs 3,698 crore has been earmarked for asphalting roads at the ward level, in residential layouts and bylanes. Another Rs 700 crore has been set aside for asphalting major roads.

Road-widening in Hebbal

On Saturday night, the chief commissioner with a retinue of engineers inspected major junctions at Sarakki, Jeedimara, Iblur, KR Puram and Hebbal.

While inspecting the Hebbal junction, Girinath directed officers to widen the stretch to KR Puram from Esteem Mall. Going by the plan to decongest the intersection, the civic body also aims to widen the stretch of Ballari Road closer to Hebbal Lake. Authorities also have plans to install streetlights, barricade footpaths, and remove optical fibre cables.

Girinath visited the flood-affected Outer Ring Road (ORR) near RMZ Ecospace where the BBMP is currently laying new pipelines to drain the rainwater.

At Iblur junction, the BBMP chief instructed the engineers to reduce the island for the smooth movement of vehicles.