Facelift of Sirsi Circle flyover yet again

Undergoing a revamp almost every alternate year, the Sirsi Circle flyover — one of the oldest and longest of Bengaluru — is perhaps the favourite of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.

It seems the civic body loves to spend lavishly on its repair.

In the latest decision, the BBMP has approved a proposal to asphalt the flyover completely by spending a whopping Rs 4.02 crore.

In fact, the flyover was asphalted using 40 mm tar a couple of years ago at a cost of Rs 2.5 crore.

Now, blaming the unprecedented rain and lack of maintenance by the contractor, the corporation has yet again rolled out a blueprint to repair the flyover by spending
Rs 4.02 crore.

However, saving its face from the probable public backlash over repeated expenditure on the same flyover, the BBMP officials have forfeited the fixed security deposit (FSD) and the earnest money deposit (EMD), amounting
Rs 11.23 lakh.

According to the documents obtained by DH, the corporation had entrusted the maintenance work with the previous contractor until 2019. “The poor maintenance by the contractor resulted in potholes on the flyover. Besides, the surface has also worn off due to the unprecedented rain in September 2017.

“Further, an undertaking has also been given to the Lokayukta that the road will soon be asphalted and hence, the new proposal of tarring has been prepared,” the document read.

The potholes and parting joints had made the busy flyover an accident-prone area in recent times. Currently, the BBMP has finalised the Sai Trisha Infra Engineers to asphalt the project.

However, while awarding the contract, the BBMP realised that the flyover has to undergo milling work (scraping of the surface) before the contractors start asphalting the stretch. A separate amount of Rs 33.28 lakh was also approved recently by the
BBMP council for milling of the road.

Acknowledging the new repair work, K T Nagaraj, chief engineer (Projects Central), told DH: “We were just waiting to get the council’s approval, and will take up the milling work and subsequently, the stretch will be asphalted.