Horror tales of road laying & pothole filling

Horror tales of road laying & pothole filling
Vijay Times

Bangalore: The Bangalore City Corporation has been consistently issuing a single tender for laying and repairing roads in the City and is dictated by a cartel, a High Court appointed panel said, blasting the civic body for throwing norms to the winds and encouraging poor quality road work.

In its 130-page document submitted before the court on T uesday , the panel exposed the rampant ad hocism and termed the manner of road laying work and filling of potholes as one of ‘horror tales’.

The list of BCC’s shortcomings does not end here. The report says that the qualification prescribed for selection of contractors is progressively diluted to accommodate contractors who do not possess the required machinery to deliver quality work.

Lambasting the BCC, the committee observed, "ad hocism is rampant in most of the dealings of the BCC. Officers dealing with the tender are not conversant with the rules and regulations as per the transparency act". It said proper documentation during the execution of site order book was totally absent.

"Whenever an adverse report is given on the quality of work by the consultants, BCC has not taken it seriously . Instead, it appears to have condoned the fault and paid the contractors, thus encouraging perpetuation of poor quality road work," the report added.

The committee was formed after former MLA Subba Reddy moved the High Court seeking a direction to the BCC to undertake the road works more effectively . Counsel for the petitioner , A V Amarnath, who gave details of the report, said that the committee has split its report into four parts.

Cartel dictates terms to the BCC Contractors do not have required machinery for quality work Ad hocism rampant in most BCC dealings Poor quality road work perpetuated by BCC Officers not conversant with rules Highest priority should be provided for drainages Adhere to transparency act while awarding contracts Provide adequate guidelines to engineering staff Direction sought to improve works

The Committee said that many officials do not possess the basic hand bo ok published by the Indian Road Congress. Appropriate technical circular or guidelines for the officers to carry out quality road work to meet the tender specifications as per the IRC norms has not been given. There is an absence of clearcut instructions to the engineers. Least regard is given to strengthening the drainage system.