CM Siddaramaiah inspects damaged roads in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The IT hub has a total of 1,611 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads, out of which 459 km have been found to be damaged. This has been repaired this year, said Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday.

Asphalting of the 659.71 km long road will be taken up in November, the chief minister said, after inspecting the work done by the Brihat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palika (BBMP) on filling potholes on Bengaluru roads.

The BBMP has set up a batch mix unit for the speedy repair of potholes, especially on arterial and sub-arterial roads, he said in a statement issued by his office.

According to the CM, usually, the road surface in Bengaluru crumbles due to the laying of BESCOM cables, water supply and sewerage pipes, GAIL gas pipes, large high-capacity cables of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited (KPTCL), and optical fiber cables under the roads.

“We have ordered these organisations to close the pits dug up by them. We are also coordinating with other departments, including Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage,” he added.

He said a grant of Rs 15 lakh has been released to every ward to address the issue of potholes.

Siddaramaiah also said Bengalureans could, through a new app called “Raste Gundi Mhantan”, follow the progress of repair work being done by the government.
According to him, so far 1,376 road potholes that have been repaired are documented in the road pothole monitoring app. He also said Rs 1,700 crore has been approved for the white-topping project for 2023-24, aimed at curbing potholes.

Incidentally, Siddaramiah had also met with the passengers of Namma metro and interacted with them on Thursday.

In a post on ‘X’, he said, he travelled by bus to inspect the progress of various developmental works and then took a metro back to Vidhana Soudha.

“I met the passengers who travel in the metro daily and heard their experiences. The metro train, which can reach on time without any hassle, is becoming the lifeline of Bengaluru’s traffic. Thus, our aim is to speed up the works and connect the metro to most areas of the city,” Siddaramaiah said.