BCC under scanner for unscientific pothole filling

BCC under scanner for unscientific pothole filling
Vijay Times

THE wish of motorists to have a safe and smooth drive on the City’s roads still remains a dream, thanks to the unscientific methods used by the authorities to fill potholes.

Even as the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) claims that it is about to finish the work of repairing roads and filling potholes in the City, motorists, who have no other option but to use these repaired roads, claim that they still have problems riding on these stretches.

Mysore Road, Cottonpet, New Tharagupet, Okalipuram, Sheshadripuram, Minerva Mills Road, Gandhi Bazaar and the Padmanabhanagar Main Road are some of the roads which stand testimony to the sub-standard work done by the BCC.

Some of the potholes have been filled in such an uneven fashion that the material, used to fill the potholes, protrudes and stands out from the rest of the road. In certain other places, the filling has been done in an improper fashion resulting in the potholes continuing to exist despite road repair work having been carried out.

Manju, a motorist, said: "Though BCC has filled the potholes, it is of no use. The situation has now become even more pathetic. Everyday, I drop my daughter at her school and I am scared that she may fall off the bike because of these type of roads. It’s dangerous to ride two-wheelers with a pillion rider on these type of roads that have unevenly filled potholes." "Even as the BCC keeps filling up potholes, new ones crop up within a month because of the heavy traffic and poor work. The work done by the authorities is haphazard and pathetic, especially the work that has been carried out beneath the Sirsi Circle flyover on the Mysore Road stretch," lamented Ravindra, another motorist.

"Instead of doing a shabby job, the authorities could have relaid the entire stretch, wherever required.
Speaking to BVT, Prof M N Srihari of the Department of Civil Engineering in the M S Ramaiah Institute of Technology said : "There is a scientific procedure to fill the potholes and this is not being followed by the BCC." "A pothole should be filled in a scientific way and there should be two layers. Firstly, the pothole must be cut open in length, width and depth. After that, a coat of tack should be applied on the pothole with coarse aggregate. This should be compacted. Then, the pothole should be filled with a mixture of bitumen with aggregate and compacted again. Later, camber board should be used to obtain the necessary slope (2.5 per cent)." The expert also said : "After these procedures, dense macadam coarse or bitumen concrete should also be used. A eight to 10 tonne flat roller must be made to pass six to eight times over the pothole to complete the rolling process. Rolling should be done from the edge to the centre of the pothole. Cambers should be ensured on the road so that water doesn’t stagnate on the surface. This increases the longevity of the road," he informed.

"If these procedures are not properly followed, then the potholes are sure to appear again," Srihari pointed out.



BCC engineer-in-chief Ramegowda said: "The engineers concerned have been instructed to adopt scientific procedures while filling potholes." "A meeting will be called immediately and the chief engineer will be asked to inspect those places where work has been completed. If it is found that there has been any lapse in following the procedures, show cause notices will be issued to the assistant engineers and strict action will be initiated against the engineers-in-charge," he assured. It may be recalled that Ramegowda had recently claimed that around 91,000 potholes had been filled in the City . The BCC had allotted Rs 8 crore for pothole filling in its budget.