Barely days after many roads got a facelift ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the city recently, a sinkhole formed on one of the newly-laid roads.
As citizens started venting their ire on social media, not only did the Chief Minister order a probe, but following social media posts tagging the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) too has also sought a report, sources in the civic body said.
Mr. Modi travelled by the road on June 20. The sinkhole appeared on the road ahead of Nagarabhavi Circle near the Dr. B. R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru (BASE), campus that Mr. Modi inaugurated recently.
“There has been water leakage from a Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) pipeline that has loosened the soil, causing a sinkhole. We have immediately taken note of it and are addressing the issue,” said a senior engineer from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
Another engineer said they wrote to the BWSSB in the second week of June while restoring the road to fix an old water pipeline, but it did not respond and the civic body went ahead and tried to fix the pipeline and asphalted the road.
However, a senior BWSSB official claimed that their engineers had conducted a spot inspection and found no fault of theirs.
BBMP recently said they had spent ₹23 crore to redo 14 km of road, including the stretch that has caved in on Thursday, ahead of the PM’s visit.
When quizzed on the issue, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, speaking to media persons in New Delhi on Thursday, said he had directed the Chief Civic Commissioner to carry out an enquiry and fix the responsibility on officials and take suitable action. He also said prima facie, it looked like the sinkhole was caused because of a leakage from the water pipeline.
