The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) had promised that roads built under the TenderSURE project will not be dug up for repair for at least 30 years as all utility lines will be located under the footpath with special-purpose chambers.

But St Mark’s Road — the first road to be redeveloped under the project — has been dug up four times in two years. The latest repair was to fix a “major fault” in the 220 kV electricity line that supplies power to the Vidhana Soudha and the Metro. Previously, the road was damaged to fix the fault in the water supply line near Bowring Institute, on the footpath near Vittal Mallya Road and at the intersection of Residency Road with St Mark’s Road. The first repair was necessitated barely a month after the road was inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah because the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) forgot to replace an ageing pipe.

The latest damage — near the SBI office — shows that the BBMP did not shift the 220 kV electricity line. Speaking in the Palike, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said the road was dug up because of a fault in the main electricity line connected to the Vidhana Soudha. It was decided to provide an alternative line for uninterrupted power supply to the seat of power, he added. He said the major electric cable could have been laid under the footpath and the old cable made dummy.

A senior BBMP engineer, however, said shifting the electricity line would have resulted in breakdown for several months. “No road project can be taken up by disconnecting power supply to major areas for months together. That’s why the line was left untouched,” he said.

The engineer insisted that the snag was “a minor one” and that only a small portion of the road was dug up. The dug-up place is a major cable joint. “Anticipating problems in the future, we have decided to build a chamber there,” he added.

Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd (KPTCL) chief engineer G R Chandrashekharaiah echoed him, saying there was no possibility of further damage to the road. “We have fixed the problem and there will be no such recurrences in the future,” he said.
DH News Service