Will Bengaluru ever get out of its pothole?

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai’s statement in the recently concluded legislature session that a whopping Rs 20,000 crore had been spent on maintenance of roads in Bengaluru over five years is shocking as virtually no thoroughfare is free from potholes even after spending such a huge amount of taxpayers’ money. This once again exposes how deep-rooted corruption is in the BBMP and other civic agencies. A pointed question by MLC P R Ramesh if there was across the city any stretch of even 1 km without a pothole, went unanswered for obvious reasons: there, perhaps, is none. While the new roads being laid under the smart city project are a saving grace, though not of world-class standards by any yardstick, most others are ridden with large cracks and potholes, causing accidents frequently. Bengaluru has a road network of 13,000 km, and by the Chief Minister’s admission, Rs 1.5-2 crore has been spent in maintaining each kilometre. The Indian Road Congress (IRC) guidelines state that roads, once laid, should be free from any defect for at least five years, but the manner in which they are washed away after a single rain shows up the sub-standard work.

Bommai has promised that he will order an audit and fix responsibility on the officers concerned, but nobody takes such promises seriously as the nexus between contractors, politicians and bureaucrats is so strong that no government has dared to act against them in the past. Such hollow promises have been handed down by politicians for decades, but the maximum punishment imposed on officers has not gone beyond a petty fine; not a single engineer has been arrested or prosecuted to date though corruption stares one in the face. Early this year, the Karnataka High Court summoned the BBMP engineers to be present in the court and called for an action plan on filling potholes. The roads are none the better even now. With the BBMP and its engineers mastering the art of frustrating even the courts, Bengaluru roads continue to remain veritable death traps.

In the face of all this, the audit promised by Bommai will in all likelihood only help sweep the issue under the carpet, instead of bringing the guilty to book. It will take a tremendous amount of courage and conviction to clean up the BBMP stables. Corruption of the magnitude witnessed in the BBMP calls for a high-level independent probe, and prompt action thereafter. Does Bommai have it in him to undertake this arduous task or will he ultimately succumb to pressure, as did his predecessors?