Jointly survey roads for potholes, HC tells BBMP

The High Court on Tuesday directed the BBMP to hold a joint survey in all eight zones in the city to identify potholes and road cuttings carried out by different agencies.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi asked the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to include American Road Technology Solutions Pvt Ltd, the company operating the pothole-filling machine Python, and agencies like Bescom, BWSSB, and GAIL in the joint survey.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Vijayan Menon and others in 2015 on potholes in the city. The petition was filed seeking direction for an action plan to repair potholes and to evolve a mechanism for citizens to file complaints about the poor condition of roads.

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During the hearing, the senior counsel representing the American Road Technology and Solutions Pvt Ltd submitted that currently just 182 kilometres of roads in the Central Business District (CBD) have been assigned to them for filling/repair of potholes. The advocate said the company is willing to implement the work if the BBMP assigns larger stretches of roads in the city.

The BBMP’s counsel submitted that it may not be possible for the company to undertake the work due to road cuttings being carried out by various agencies. The civic body urged the court to give more time to coordinate with the company and other agencies involved in road cutting to evolve an action plan in all the eight zones of the city.

Pursuance to the BBMP’s joint survey with the concerning respondents, a future course of action must be taken to fill potholes by ensuring coordination between American Road Technology and Solutions and agencies involved in the road-cutting exercise, the bench said.

The court has directed the respective chief engineers of each zone to actively participate in the joint survey to ensure compliance of the court order. The bench has also directed the BBMP to identify and submit a report on April 19 about the agencies that have indulged in road-cutting exercises without obtaining necessary permission.

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