One week of heavy rains and the road infrastructure of the city is already showing signs of wear and tear. The shoddy road construction is evident every year but this has not moved the BBMP to pull up its contractors and improve the quality of the roads. Patchwork is done to hide potholes that reappear in less than two months. Good quality roads are essential for a growing city like Bengaluru but taxpayer’s money is just being wasted in paying for sloppy ‘developmental’ work.
Potholes, cracks and huge craters define the road infrastructure of the IT City, posing a threat to the safety of road users. BBMP, which is facing the fury of the state government for failing to manage municipal waste, is now concentrating on waste management. Improvement of road infrastructure is thus not on its priority list. A proposal for laying more durable ‘plastic roads’ did not get beyond one or two roads before BBMP lost interest.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, chairman of the Public Affairs Centre (PAC), Samuel Paul said: “None of the people in the BBMP want good governance. What’s the point in talking about far-fetched plans of improving the road infrastructure when they are never implemented? Corporators and commissioners are either incompetent or corrupt. Roads built just two or three years ago have developed potholes. The quality of work rendered by BBMP is really bad. We have been talking about bad roads of the city since the past so many years. I feel that there is no point in talking about it as nothing is being done on the improvement front.”
Many of Bengaluru’s important roads such as Hosur Road, Bannerghatta Road, Bellary Road need immediate attention as they see the highest vehicle movement every day. Cunningham Road, which is considered to be one of the plush landmarks of Bengaluru, has developed huge craters in the middle of the road. Drivers are forced to swerve suddenly and dangerously to avoid these craters. Many road users have barely escaped accidents on this stretch.
Queen’s Road, starting from Minsk Square towards Mahatma Gandhi statue, has become an accident zone. The uncovered, non-barricaded potholes are causing the trouble, while commuters, unaware of the on-going construction work on the narrow road, have often ended up in the ditch.