Expert picks holes in BCC's pothole claims

Expert picks holes in BCC s pothole claims
POTHOLES AND PA TCHES GALORE
Vijay Times

Bangalore: The tall claims by the Bangalore City Corporation that it has restored 142 roads stretching over 108.68 kilometres across the City to the status of potholefree has come in for scrutiny , with exp terming the patchwork job a grave threat to commuters. A random survey by this newspaper revealed that the restored stretches were still studded with gaping potholes at places with uneven patchwork posing nightmarish problems.

Critical of the claims made by the civic body , M N Srihari, T raffic Adviser to t State Government and Chairman, T raffic Engineers and Safety T rainers ( TEST ), termed the entire road repair exercise a mockery by BCC engineers. It is just an eyewash. They are just building up records saying that there are no potholes. A BCC release had on Saturday named many of the road stretches where the repair work had been undertaken to make them pothole free. While the entire exercise has left these stretches rough and uneven, many commuters termed the work a ’compromise’ in terms of a dire need for scientifically lai out network in Bangalore.

A case in point is the restored stretch connecting the railway underbridge and Malleshwaram Railway station (11th cross), which continues to be a difficult proposition for commuters who have to manoeuvre between uneven patchwork and protruding manhole covers at regular intervals. Dr J Lakshmikant, orthopaedic specialist, Hosmat Hospital: About 25 per cent of the accidents every month are due to poor road conditions. The number of potholes have continued to increase leading to a number of high-velocity injury cases being reported, in particular among the senior citizens. Automobile engineers say that a fourwheeler (particularly the low-chassis Maruti 800, which are in a majority) can get its front suspension costing Rs 7,000 damaged if it hits a pothole at 30 to 50 ki tres an hour . Its replacement may cost up to Rs 20,000.

8 80 Feet Road, Chandra Layout, from Goodwill Apartment to Nagarabhavi Main Road

8 MYsore Road from Ring Road to 1st Cross Magadi Road, from Magadi Road to SWD

8 Magadi Road to P ark West of Chord Road from 9th Main to Magadi Road Circle

8 Coconut Main Road

8 Nagarabhavi Main Road to Dead End Road, Dr Rajkumar Road

8 Navarang Circle to 41st Cross

8 18th cross Malleshwaram from 4th main to 9th main road and 3rd main road to 8th main road

8 Railway P arellel Road, from Railway underbridge to Malleshwaram Railway Station