JD(S)-Congress Vs JD(S)-Congress? Potholes Cause A Blame-Game In Bangalore, BBMP Blames State Government For Delay

High Court of Karnataka has been after the civic body of Bengaluru, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to repair the potholes in the city. Despite missing several deadlines, BBMP has not resolved the issue. It has turned the blame on the state government for not allocating funds to deal with the problem.

Since September, a proposal to maintain roads that do not qualify according to the Defect Liability Period (DLP) terms, is pending approval. According to Bangalore Mirror, Rs 2 crore for 135 core wards, and Rs 3 crore for 64 new wards was kept aside. This is exclusively meant for pothole repair.

The BBMP had reportedly made several requests to the state government to release Rs 46 crore under 4(G) exemption scheme. Bangalore Mirror quoted a BBMP official as saying, “But there are many repairs that have been taken up under the 4(G) exemption in which the BBMP is undertaking the repairs. But for this, we have to go through the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Ltd (KRIDL) and they don’t have enough equipment to fill the potholes and take up the work in all 198 wards. Then how can the BBMP give details to the court? The state government should first grant us the approval for grants needed for road repairs.”

In order to maintain and resurface 1500 km of roads, Major Roads Department of the civic body had asked the state to approve Rs 60 crore. This was way back in June.

Bangalore Mirror quoted BBMP Chief N Manjunath Prasad as saying, “Since the work has to be taken up immediately, we will take up the work under the 4(G) exemption for which we need to get the approval from the government though it is BBMP’s budget. However, we have other options like we can take up the work through KRIDL and we will go through that route. However, this is not the right time to talk about this as the matter is in court.”