With the first deadline to cover potholes  on city roads coming to an
end on Monday, the BBMP  has now come up with a new deadline: October
5.

The civic body was supposed to fill all potholes in all 198
wards by September 30. The additional commissioner (Administration) had
issued orders to ward-level engineers on September 25 to cover all the
potholes. 

BBMP Standing Committee chairman of Ward-level Works
(Public Works) A H Basavaraju said the work has been taken up at each
ward at a cost of `5 lakh. It is going on in full swing, he added.

“We
still missed the deadline. Now, we have set a new deadline and all the
chief engineers at zonal level have been directed to monitor and file
daily reports on the drive. The officials will be held responsible for
not completing the drive. If the works are not completed by the new
deadline, I will write to the BBMP Commissioner to take action against
the officials,” Basavaraju stated.

On Monday, BBMP engineers
filled 863 potholes in Bommanahalli Zone, 210 in East Zone and 60 in
Yelahanka Zone. Basavarju said reports are awaited as far as other zones
are concerned.

Mayor B S Sathyanarayana, on the other hand, is hopeful of meeting the deadline this time.

“Five
days’ deadline is a tough task in the entire BBMP limits. The reports
that have come, so far, state that the engineers concerned have put in
great efforts and have covered more roads. The work is still going on
and we will fix potholes on 300 km of major roads in the city,” he said.

Superintendent
engineer (Major Roads) K T Nagaraj said they faced problems in covering
300 km of roads due to traffic movement. “The work has to be taken up
only at night and sometimes, labourers don’t turn up. We still managed
to cover 1,43, 790 square metres. The biggest work was carried out
between Rajajinagar Entrance and Khoday Circle, measuring 8,659 sq m, in
West Zone. This was followed by 6,050 sq m at K H Road and 3,600 sq m,
covering Wilson Garden 10th Cross, 12th Cross and police station, in
South Zone. In East Zone, there was a stretch of 5,600 sq m from Old
Airport Road to Suranjandas Road and Trinity Circle. The pothole filling
and road works are ongoing processes,” Nagaraj said.

According to
the BBMP technical team’s report compiled on September 18, the Palike
had filled 27,740 potholes and remaining 11,614 still had to be filled.
In Rajarajeshwarinagar Zone itself, 3,669 potholes and 3,597 potholes
located in South Zone are yet to be covered.