Dharam's promise to IT.in: Abort? Retry? Fail?

Dharam's promise to IT.in: Abort? Retry? Fail?
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The hue and cry by the IT honchos on crumbling infrastructure in the city seems to have made little impact on the government as the government's promise to repair 19 roads in the city by the end of December has fallen flat.

Following the boycott threat to IT.in, the government had promised the IT industry on September 15 to fix the roads by December.

Though the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) was given a free hand in implementation of the works by exempting the task from the Transparency Act, the contractors seem to have developed an aversion to the tenders.

Eleven roads of these were given to Karnataka Land Army Corporation (KLAC) but the works have not gone any farther than the basic civil works. A KLAC official said that they would need more than a month to complete the roads.

The BMP called tenders for the rest 8 roads and the civic body faced difficulty in finding contractors.

There were single tenders and the premium was too high. The contractors quoted 70 per cent more than the estimated cost and in one case the contractor quoted 350 per cent higher, said a BMP official.

Finally, the matter was brought to the notice of the chief secretary B K Das who asked the BMP to transfer all the works to KLAC.

Further, the IT industry too did not keep its promise on adopting some roads for development.

But in all this technical circus, the government's promise has been relegated to back burner.

On September 15, the government had promised to develop the following roads by December

Package I: Central Business District

MG Road: Brigade Road Junction - Trinity Circle

Ulsoor Road: Trinity Circle - Taj Residency - Dickenson road junction

Dickenson Road: MG Road junction - Kamaraj Road junction

Magrath Road: Brigade Road junction - Richmond Road juncton

Road from Mayo Hall - Garuda Mall - Life Style Junction

Prim Rose road, Brunton Road, Church Street

Vittal Mallya Road, Lavelle Road, Madras Bank Road

Museum Road, Hayes Road, convent Road

Package II: Airport Road - Indira Nagar Corridor

Airport Road: 100 feet junction - Airport - Suranjan Das junction

80 feet Road: Old Madras Road - Airport Road via Kodihalli

Jeevan Bhima nagar Road: Suranjan Das Road - 80 feet road

Thippasandra main Road: 80 feet Road - Suranjan das Road

12th main Road: 80 feet Road - 100 feet Road - I main

Package III: Hosur Road - Sarjapura Road - Koramangala - Madivala corridor

Lower Agaram Road: Richmond road -Eijipura main Road

20 main Road: 80 feet Road - Hosur Road - Forum mall

8th main Road: 100 feet IRR - Sarjapura Road

7th Cross Road: 100 feet IRR - 80 feet Road - Sarjapura Road

1A Cross Road: 100 feet IRR - 20th main Road

5th cross road: 100 feet IRR - 20th main road

The Nature of Improvement:

* Re-laying of interlocking blocks on footpaths, providing for and clearing of shoulder drains, concreting low lying and water logged traffic junctions and asphalting.

* Cutting of the trees standing on the roads (BCC awaiting notification from the Forest Department for last 2 months).

Traffic lane marking with thermo plastic paint and providing lane seperators (cat eyes and flexible -collapsible cones) at major junctions

* BESCOM, BSNL and private telecom operators to ensure that they provide service pits to ensure that the roads and foot paths are not dug after the repairs.