Potholes: Karnataka High Court directs NHAI inspect quality of road works in Bengaluru

According to reports, the Karnataka High Court pointed to deaths due to potholes, besides observing that BBMP seemed to be engaged in cosmetic surgery of roads in the Bengaluru.

Hyderabad: The Karnataka High Court directed the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to inspect the quality of road repairs, especially potholes filling works undertaken by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and submit a detailed report.

This comes in the wake of complaints pouring in from different sections over the poor road conditions in Bengaluru and the quality of repair works. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was also filed regarding the bad condition of roads in Bengaluru. The High Court while hearing the petition last week directed NHAI to inspect the repair works. According to reports, the High Court also pointed to deaths due to potholes, besides observing that BBMP seemed to be engaged in cosmetic surgery of roads in the city.

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The BBMP in a report submitted to the High Court informed that municipal corporation officials themselves issue a satisfaction certificate after the private contractors undertake the work. Over this, the High Court directed the NHAI to inspect the works and submit a report. Apart from inconvenience to road users, poor road conditions in Bengaluru have led to verbal duels between ruling and opposition parties.

Potholes in Bengaluru have turned into death traps, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy reportedly said after a 50 year old woman fell on the road while trying to navigate a pothole at Vatal Nagaraj Road in the city. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) activists even staged a protest a few days back at Freedom Park in Bengaluru against the death of two youths because of potholes in Attur Layout and Rajanukunte. Interestingly, Karnataka IT Minister CN Ashwath Narayan reportedly said potholes on roads keep happening and urged the citizens to refrain from damning the city.

In contrast, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has a practice of roping in private agencies and university professors to conduct third party assessments of all the civic works, including road works executed by the corporation. Tenders are floated annually for identifying the agencies and selected agencies set up a quality control system with the help of prescribed testing norms through a competent team of technical personnel. Their task includes inspecting the site before commencement of work, during progress of the work and verifying the quality standards being maintained at the site.

In case of any discrepancy or error, the same has to be pointed out to the client, besides suggesting remedial measures. Basically, the agency will be involved in inspection of projects which are taken up with a budget of over Rs.5 lakh. Accordingly, in 2020 between April and October, the nine third party agencies had carried out 3,230 inspections of different works executed in different parts of the city. After the inspections, they submitted to the municipal corporation that quantum of revenue had to be recovered pertaining to 2,108 works, including adverse reports in few cases. eom