During a daylong inspection of the roads affected by the Metro works, Mayor Sharadamma and her deputy S Harish said the Palike would not relent this time around if the BMRCL did not fill the potholes and repair the roads.

“We will give the BMRCL time till September 25 to fill the potholes and repair the roads and stormwater drains. If they don’t, we will initiate action,” said Sharadamma.
Deputy Mayor Harish declared the corporators would stall the entire Metro project across the city if the BMRCL failed to make the roads motorable.

“Re-laying of roads will be taken up on a 50:50 partnership basis between the BMRCL and the BBMP. However, the BMRCL is solely responsible for filling the potholes created by its massive construction project across the city,” he said.

Inspecting the various locations where the Metro is under construction, the corporators took the BMRCL officials to task for leaving the roads to rot. At Devaiah Park, where Reach 2 of the BMRCL project is under way, the Palike inspection team found an unauthorised transformer installed on the footpath. “Who is responsible if something happens to a pedestrian,” asked Nanjundappa, the BJP member at the Palike Council.

Justifying the reasons for the pathetic conditions of the road where the Metro project is on, BMRCL chief engineer Capt Doddihal said: “We face many problems due to persistent leakages in the BWSSB pipelines and the delay in the Bescom shifting their utility lines that add to the bad state of roads. Yet, we have to provide respite to the people and we will try to do it at every step.”

The BMRCL officials were also pulled up over a broken water pipeline laid newly at the Iskcon temple. Inspecting the work on the widening of Mysore Road, the mayor gave the BWSSB and the Bescom time till September-end to shift the utility lines and allow the Palike to asphalt the stretch.