A rough ride: Few answers to Bengaluru’s pothole trouble

Every time the issue flares up, civic agencies such as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, BBMP or the city’s municipal corporation, and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) are usually quick to point fingers at each other — while the BBMP usually blames BWSSB for digging up the road, the water board, in turn, says that they had paid the corporation for refilling the potholes.

Meanwhile, deaths and accidents continue to be reported from the city. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), in 2021, Bengaluru recorded the highest deaths among major cities in the country — 3,213 road accidents in the city led to 654 fatalities and left 2,820 injured. In 32 cases, 33 people died due to ‘negligence of civic bodies’.

This year, the city reported about nine deaths that were attributed to potholes, with police officials admitting that the actual numbers could be several times higher.

For instance, on November 1, 38-year-old Sandeep met with an accident in Bengaluru and sustained head injuries. However, the FIR did not mention that he sustained injuries while his vehicle tried to avoid a pothole. He is being treated at a private hospital and the bills have crossed Rs 7.5 lakh.

According to BBMP chief commissioner Tushar Girinath, the corporation spends about Rs 30 crore annually to fix potholes. Ironically, during many recent field visits, he has expressed his disappointment over the works carried out by his department. Last week, Girinath again said that all potholes in the city must be filled by November 15 — one of many deadlines he has set in the recent past.

In March this year, BBMP submitted an action plan to the government stating that it would asphalt 392 km of roads at the cost of Rs 600 crore and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai assured that the funds would be provided.

A failed experiment

Bengaluru city has over 14,000 km of roads under BBMP limits, which includes national highways, and major and minor roads.

While pothole filling is done manually in many areas of Bengaluru, the results of BBMP’s attempts to introduce technology have so far been mixed.

In 2017, American Road Technology and Solutions (ART&S), a road-building and maintenance service providing company, bagged the tender to asphalt potholes on 350 km of roads in Central Bengaluru, including 142 km of major roads.

However, all’s not well between the company and BBMP.

According to ART&S, the machine they use, the ‘Python 5000 pothole patcher’, is a self-propelled pothole-patching machine with very little human intervention required.

However, BBMP’s zonal engineers have expressed their disappointment over Python’s pace of work. An official said, “It is true that the machine needs very little human intervention but if it is unable to fill 15 potholes in a day on a single stretch, how will it work for a big city like Bengaluru?”

M Lokesh, Chief Engineer, Projects, BBMP, told The Indian Express that they have written to the government proposing to cancel the contract with ART&S.

“According to the agreement, they needed to deploy three machines but only one is working. Besides, the quality of the work remains to be a huge concern. How can we continue with this?” he said.

Bhanu Prabha, MD of ART&S, however, blames the BBMP for not being interested in bringing new technology to the city. “Also, they have been holding us responsible for pothole accidents that took place outside our limits. We have provided them with all the documents and evidence of how we have been working to provide quality roads,” says Prabha, while blaming BBMP for delaying payments due to the company. “Our bills amounting to Rs 7 crore have been stuck since 2019. Where do we even get capital to continue our work,” she adds.

Despite the acrimony, earlier this year, BBMP renewed its contract with the company for two years. However, drama unfolded when former chief engineer (road and infrastructure) B S Prahalad allegedly assaulted Prabha’s husband over payment to the company.

Last week, the Karnataka High Court directed the Chief Engineer of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to personally inspect the pothole-filling and relaying of roads done by private contractors, including ART&S.

Question remain

While officials in the BBMP attribute the potholes to vehicular density on the city’s roads — Bengaluru has nearly 1.10 crore registered vehicles — and frequent water-logging, experts dismiss these suggestions.

Civic expert Sandeep Anirudhan says, “There are several major cities across the globe and some of them face extreme weather conditions. But why do potholes recur at such an alarming rate on Bengaluru’s roads?”

Recent pothole accidents

October 29: Harshad, 24 a student from Kerala who was studying at a private college in the city, died when the bike he was riding got hit by a car that lost control while trying to negotiate a pothole. Two of his friends who were riding pillion were injured in the accident.

August 18: Suprith J, 44, who worked for a private firm, fell off his motorcycle after hitting a pothole at the Herohalli area in the Vijaynagar sub-division. He succumbed to injuries on August 22.

March 13: Ashwin, a native of Haveri district, was returning home from a restaurant when he failed to notice a pothole and lost control of his two-wheeler. He died of his injuries.