BBMP employs govt agency

BBMP employs govt agency
Bangalore, June 13, DHNS:

The decision to hand over the work to Karnataka Land Army Corporation (KLAC) was taken in a meeting, held few months ago and participated by the KLAC, BBMP Commissioner Bharat Lal Meena, and the Additional Commissioner (Traffic), Praveen Sood.

The traffic police were asked to help the agency to identify potholes in each division that needed refilling. “We are just a facilitating agency. The work is carried out by them (KLAC),” a police official said.

The KLAC is exempted under the Karnataka Town and Country Planning Act and hence was given the contract without any tender bid. The KLAC can bill the BBMP as and when it run out of funds and the Palike will pay KLAC up after scrutiny of its work and bills.

“There is a certain amount of liberty when it comes to a government agency,” said a BBMP official. Last week, the BBMP and the State Government had released nearly Rs 50 crore for their “patchwork” in the city over the past few months.

What remains to be seen now is how far the move could help to permanently seal the potholes. Most often, after a patchwork, potholes re-emerge within a few days. This is because they are filled up just with a cold patch–without bitumen, an important ingredient for longlasting roads.

Best solution

To the BBMP officials, mending potholes with a cold patch is the best solution given the constraints of time. “We are pressed for time when a pothole emerges on city roads. As a result, a cold patch is the only immediate solution to fill these potholes,” said an official.

The remedy lies in the use of bitumen in the filling process and this is feasible only while asphalting roads, when bitumen could be used as a ‘hotpatch’ mix.