BBMP allowed five agencies to dig 315 km of roads in two years

At least five government agencies received the BBMP’s consent to dig up a total of 315 km of roads for laying underground utilities in various parts of the city in the last two years.

As the restoration of dug-up roads was taking a longer time, the civic body stopped collecting charges for fixing the dug-up road, putting the onus on the agency itself.

Official records show the BBMP approved the digging up of 303 km of roads in as many as 43 places last year.

It collected road restoration charges of Rs 44.51 crore.

This financial year, the BBMP has approved the digging up of 12.10 km of roads covering 29 places.

Officials said they had restricted giving approvals this year as the condition of roads was already pathetic.

Bulk of the requests has come from agencies such as BWSSB, Bescom and GAIL India. The BBMP is also flooded with similar requests from OFC operators.

Officials, however, said the 5G broadband cellular network does not require the digging up of roads.

“We have been getting requests to install small towers after the 5G technology was introduced,” an official said.