Is there an end to indiscriminate digging of roads?

With the frequent, indiscriminate digging of roads by various civic bodies, Bengalureans have no option but to go through the peril daily. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Ltd (Bescom), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and other telecom companies blame one another, exposing their collective apathy. DH interacts with the residents to know their grievances on the issue.
Jayaram S Govindaiah, head, infrastructure, Danske IT, wants the agency concerned to update residents before taking up any civic works. He says, “In European countries, if any work has to be carried out by any civic agency, an alert message will be sent to the residents in advance. Here, there is no such system.” He points to the road that he takes usually. “If it is dug up the next morning, I will be left with no option but to take alternative long routes. There is no such platform here to keep the public informed.” Seeking transparency in all works, Govindaiah says once the work is completed, roads are not even restored.

He says, “The much-hyped TenderSURE roads are a classic example of this. BBMP had claimed that roads built under this project will not be dug up for at least two decades. But government agencies have failed miserably. St Mark’s Road redesigned under this project has been dug up.” He works at a corporate campus in RMZ Ecoworld, Bellandur. “The service road adjacent to Bellandur flyover that leads to our office has not been asphalted for the last three years. Most employees who work at our campus take the same route with no other option.”
Eventually, it turned out to be a bottleneck. Traffic slowed due to thousands of employees getting stranded at the same junction for hours together. “It used to take at least 20-30 minutes for us to cross this junction. When we questioned the BBMP and BDA, as to who should be held responsible for resurfacing the road, none of the civic bodies took responsibility. This is mainly due to lack of coordination between them.”

Finally, the employees and the company had to take the initiative to asphalt the road by joining hands with Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) and RMZ. Ananth Krishna, resident of Sarakki Garden feels that decentralising the departments would help smoothen functioning of civic works. He says, “It has become a common sight for us to see the roads being dug every often in almost all the areas. The roads asphalted would be dug up the next day by some other civic agency for their work.”

This, he says, happens because there is no single platform for them to conduct the meeting in advance and prepare for the project. “Due to their negligence, residents have to suffer as they are at the receiving end. All civic bodies are working independently.”

He adds, “The recently asphalted roads in JP Nagar, where I reside, have been dug up for reasons best known to civic officials. I do not understand the point in digging the same roads once every six months.”

The civic bodies, he suggests, should come together before they start a new project and finish the multiple works once for all. “This saves both money and time. Also, after completion of work, there should be a quality check of such works. If the contractor is found using sub-standard materials, he should be strictly instructed to re-lay the roads without any additional cost from the government end.”

C K Ramamurthy, former corporator, Pattabhiramanagar, opines that lack of communication among the civic agencies is the main reason for such frequent digging of roads. He says, “According to the rules, if any work has to be carried out, all the respective agencies should send the notice to each other and update the concerned department. But currently, no one follows this system.”