The incessant and heavy rains in the last few days in the city submerged many a road, and what it left is a long trail of potholed roads. Motorists, who were forced to wade dangerously through inundated roads, are now finding themselves negotiating pockmarked roads that are turning out to be just as dangerous.
Key arterial roads, including Old Madras Road, Bannerghatta Road, Indiranagar, HAL Road, Mysuru Road, Yeshwanthpur, Tumakuru Road, Vasanthnagar, Malleswaram, Central Business District roads and Outer Ring Road, have been left with potholes, resulting in slow-moving vehicles and traffic snarls.
“There are many potholes on Bannerghatta Road and construction activities of the Namma Metro make things worse. After heavy rain, roads are flooded. We can’t even see the potholes due to the rainwater,” said Manoj Kumar, who uses the road every day to travel between BTM Layout and Hullimavu.
“The potholes are very dangerous, and potentially life threatening. Due to the rain, the potholes have gotten deeper and bigger. If the contractors do a good job in making roads, this would not be a problem. Recently, due to the potholes, I had a substantial toll on my bike and now it is scary to ride. I would rather leave my bike at home,” said Aaditya Sajit, a financial analyst who uses Mantri Mall Road, Malleswaram.
Another motorist complained about the asphalt used on the roads coming out after rains. “Potholes appear because they have laid a really thin layer of asphalt. It gets worse with rain. The process of placing the tar is rushed and not thoroughly done, so the rain causes the same pothole to come back stronger. Due to the rains, when the roads were flooded, we aren’t able to see where the potholes are. I have fallen off my two-wheeler at least two to three times because of this,” said Sarah Rebello, a student.
Sadhana K., a regular user of Old Madras Road from Malleshpalya, said, “The stretch between the Indiranagar BDA complex and Adarsha theatre is like a roller coaster ride. There’s no road left. Also, humungous potholes have formed on GM Palya Road that is a crucial connection between BEML Gate and Vigananagar, etc. Vehicles have to crawl to negotiate that stretch.”
BBMP officials have acknowledged that potholes have appeared, but claimed that they had fixed most of the problems just last month. “The rain which is coming now has created new potholes on various roads. We have regularly been closing them as it is also part of our regular maintenance work,” said a senior BBMP official.
Meanwhile, traffic police personnel, who have to bear the brunt of motorists’ ire, are unhappy with the civic body. “Apart from the danger they pose, potholes slow the pace of traffic, doubling our work,” said a traffic police personnel from Madiwala.
In the last few years, the High Court has repeatedly pulled up the BBMP for poor road quality and potholes. In January this year, the court questioned the civic body as to why potholes occur after every rain in the city. In June, the court had also said that Bengaluru is getting a bad name because of potholes.
(With inputs by Vibha Rao)
