BBMP chief Girinath directs officials to fix waterlogging, potholes in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Additional Chief Secretary Tushar Girinath held a meeting with officials of all five new corporations and special commissioners of Greater Bengaluru Authority, and directed them to coordinate with Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) in addressing potholes and waterlogging issues, as these are of primary concern during the monsoon in Bengaluru city. Addressing officials, he said BTP has freshly identified 4,822 potholes across the city, of which 1,861 have been filled. The remaining 2,961 potholes must be addressed, and the departments concerned must coordinate to ensure prompt action. Corporation officials have been directed to take appropriate measures, and senior officials are expected to personally monitor pothole repairs. He added that BTP has identified 137 locations in the city which are prone to waterlogging, and lead to severe traffic congestion during rain. Issues have already been resolved at 56 locations, and necessary action must be taken at the remaining 81 locations, he said. Girinath also directed officials to ensure that contractors themselves are responsible for carrying out repair work on roads where white-topping and black-topping are currently under way. Contractors must be held accountable for maintaining roads in good condition until white-topping and black-topping works are fully complete, he said. A total of 400km of roads are being black-topped, and 150km are being white-topped. Contractors must be made responsible for ensuring these roads remain free of potholes and facilitate smooth vehicular movement. Software to track potholes To ensure that information on potholes and waterlogging is immediately accessible to officials, the traffic police department has developed a software Astram, which must be integrated with GBAs existing pothole monitoring software.