Bad City roads raise Upalokayukta's hackles

Upalokayukta S B Majage took the Palike engineers to task on Tuesday, over the poor state of the City roads.

Following news reports and repeated complaints from the people, Justice Majage inspected some areas where the roads are in bad shape.

Accompanied by BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana, Justice Majage visited the surrounding areas of Lalbagh, BVK Iyengar Road, City Market, Kempegowda Road, Tank Bund Road, Majestic, City Railway Station Road and Okalipuram.

On KG Road near Majestic, people complained to him about the poor condition of the skywalk, which has remained closed for a long time now. The BBMP officers said the skywalk had been handed over to a private advertiser on a ‘build, operator and transfer’ basis. The term was over five years ago and the Palike was maintaining it.

They told Justice Majage that the skywalk required repairs, for which it was closed. A contractor had been hired to make it operational, the officers said. Justice Majage directed the contractor to operationalise the skywalk within 10 days.

He was annoyed to see the poor condition of roads and garbage pile-up on Arcot Srinivasachar Road near the City Market. To make things worse, sewage was overflowing from the manhole and people had no space to walk.

Justice Majage directed the local engineer to clear the filth soon as he would revisit the place in two days. Autorickshaw drivers complained that there was no public toilet in the area, forcing people to relieve themselves in the public. Lakshminarayana assured them that he would see to it that a public toilet is built there shortly.

On Tank Bund Road, there was no proper drainage, which resulted in waterlogging. This prompted Justice Majage to instruct the officers to desilt and repair the existing drain.
The poor condition of the road in front of the City Railway Station prompted Justice Majage to direct the commissioner to get the road repaired at the earliest.