Poll-time makeover for BTM Layout roads

Repairs in area after 3 years; ‘perfectly fine’ roads asphalted

Roads invariably get a customary layer of asphalt whenever there are elections. The BTM Layout 1st Stage in the City, which is part of the constituency of Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy, is no different.

The area has been getting a fresh coat of asphalt, after a gap of three years, for about a week now. But what has baffled the residents of the locality is that the roads are getting a makeover even in those parts of the ward where there is no need for it.

The residents on 18th Main have been struggling to use the road as there are not just an appalling number of potholes, but also remnants of the work undertaken by various government departments such as the Bescom and the BWSSB.

All these are causing problems for motorists. “There is the usual layer of crushed stone poured in a hurry on a pothole, or on a stretch dug up in the middle of the road. Otherwise, I have not seen the road being asphalted in the last three years,” said Dr Jayadev Reddy, a resident of 18th Main coming under Ward 172.

Residents on the adjacent 2nd Cross, 17th Main, too, insist that it is much more than three years since any such work has been undertaken there. “The government officers’ residential quarters in BTM Layout II Stage, in contrast, sees regular asphalting of the roads. I have not seen our roads being asphalted for at least half a decade,” said S R Prabhu, another resident of the area.

Many residents on 2nd Cross though wonder why the road outside their houses needs asphalting. 

“The road is in a perfectly good shape, especially since the number of vehicles using it is not very high,” said Lakshmi. “The asphalting work had been sanctioned three months ago, but was pending for various reasons,” said BBMP supervisor Gangadhar.