Committee recommends reconditioning of City roads

Committee recommends reconditioning of City roads
Vijay Times

IF you had thought that the flooding of low-lying areas during the monsoon last year had occurred only because of clogged drains and blocked manholes, think again.

An expert committee constituted by the High Court to study the condition of roads and drains in the City has apparently attributed the flooding of certain areas to the several layers of asphalt found on certain roads. "The gradient of the roads differ from place to place," the committee has pointed out.

According to sources in the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), the three-member committee had found out that the several layers of asphalt on the roads had heightened their surface every year.

The sources said the committee had recommended for resurfacing existing roads before asphalting them. "The committee has pointed out that the top layers should be removed and reconditioned so that they can be used on the surface of the road. This will prevent the roads from being heightened which in turn will prevent roadside homes from being flooded. The rain water will flow into the side drains easily," the sources said.

The committee had also recorded its observations about the problem of corporators interfering in works being carried out by the BMP engineers. "As a result of this, the work of engineers has been affected. This has resulted in several projects not having been completed," the committee has observed.

"The work being carried out on some roads may be changed if it is inevitable," the committee had noted. The sources said that even after a week elapsing, the BMP was yet to obtain a copy of the report and to implement the same.

Though, the BMP had constituted a team to carry out the feasible recommendations, no recommendations had been adopted, the sources claimed. "The new BMP commissioner is yet to implement the recommendations. It has so far not been discussed in the BMP Council meetings," the source added.

Sources also said that the committee had submitted four bi-monthly interim reports.



Reproducing the essence of the committee’s observations, the sources said, “If the BMP engineers take up work on some roads, a few corporators meddle and force them to carry out work on roads that they prefer.”