Metro

Bengaluru

KJ George

Siddaramaiah

Nayandahalli Circle

Kengeri

The first letter of February 27, 2016

First reminder dated August 28, 2017

Dasara

Kanakapura Road

Rider’s at fault, says BMRCL

By Manoj SharmaYou didn’t fix the road: BBMP | You didn’t unclog the drain:It was a death that could have been avoided. If only Bangalore Metro had paid heed to the numerous warnings and reminders that the BBMP (BruhatMahanagara Palike) regularly sent out, Radhamma would have been home, taking care of her family.On Sunday, Radhamma alias Radha, a homemaker from Shyampura, was killed when she was headed towards Ramanagara to meet her relatives. As her son tried to avoid a pothole, Radha, who was riding pillion, came under the wheels of a truck on Nayandahalli main road stretch near Panatarapalaya and died on the spot.Radha’s death enraged Bengaluru. Just a week before, a couple (Anthony Joseph and Sagai Mary) had died as Joseph tried to avoid a pothole and a Tamil Nadu road transport bus hit it from behind. Social media erupted in anger; so much so that Bengaluru in-charge ministerand Chief Ministervisited the spot and asked BBMP to fix all potholes in 15 days.There was just one glitch -- The stretch of road where Radha died is not maintained by the BBMP. On February 27, 2016, BBMP had handed over theto Rajarajeshwari Arch Circle stretch to BMRCL (Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd) for construction of the metro line (Metro is extending the East-West line from Nayandahalli station and taking it up to).BBMP has written at least three letters to BMRCL asking it to ensure that the road is properly maintained and does not cause any hardship to commuters. In fact, ithad written a letter to BMRCL on September 7 (just a day before Radha died) and reminded BMRCL of its commitment. Bangalore Mirror is in possession of all the three letters and this is what they say:While handing over the Nayandahalli Circle-Rajarajeshwari Circle to the BMRCL, BBMP had said that “road should be maintained in a manner that it should not cause any kind of inconvenience to commuters”. This letter was written by BBMP executive engineer (road infrastructure, RR Nagar Zone) and addressed to the BMRCL MD.The BBMP wrote a letter and posted pictures after it noticed that the stretch handed over to the BMRCL was poorly maintained and had developed potholes. It asked the BMRCL to “repair the road as it has witnessed the huge potholes. If the BMRCL does not take any actions, the public may have to suffer”. It also reminded the BMRCL that phone calls made to its offices by the BBMP on August 26 had gone unanswered.The BBMP reminded BMRCL that the famed Mysuruhad started and the road will see heavy traffic due to the festive season. The letter reads: “Despite Palike writing letters to the BMRCL to repair the roads, no work has taken place. Traffic has increased as Mysuru Dasara has started. BMRCL will be held responsible if any mishap takes place in the future.”A day before Radha died, BBMP had drafted another letter for BMRCL and had decided to deliver it by hand since the latter was not taking cognizance. The letter reads: “Nayandahalli Road has been damaged due to the continuous rains that lashed the city. Palike has received several complaints from the public and the potholed road has caused several accidents. Palike officials have been requesting BMRCL to take corrective measures but no action has been seen.”BBMP’s executive engineer for road infrastructure, Nandish JR, said: “We have written several letters to BMRCL requesting them to repair the road. We had also cautioned them that the road could cause accidents. They have not responded to our letters, calls and even for Whatsapp messages. Our commissioner had instructed us to take up wet mix works citing heavy density of traffic during Dasara and we did so for two days,” he said.This is not the first time that BMRCL’s negligence has cost a life. In April, Bangalore Metro had reported how poorly painted and callously placed barricades onhad killed a certain V Pradeep while he was returning home in the night.More recently, the BMRCL refused to discuss its plans for the proposed Cantonment Railway Metro station during a roundtable saying it is not supposed to share any information with media.******************The BBMP may blame BMRCL for poor roads and Radha’s death but Metro will have none of it. Dhananjaya Murthy, Dy Chief Engineer (Reach 2A, 2B) told BM: “We have done the best we can; we’ve filled up potholes... The death was due to the rider’s fault, not because of the potholes.”BMRCL’s chief engineer, Vijay Kumar Maurya, said the root cause is the drain on Mysore Road that BBMP hasn’t cleaned. “We fixed the road each time the BBMP asked for it. But the major issue here is that the road gets damaged often as the drain overflows. Unless the drain is fixed, there won’t be much use asphalting the road,” he said.BBMP chief Manjunath Prasad said: “The death could have been avoided if BMRCL had repaired the road. BBMP has become a soft target. We have handed over 300 km of roads to PWD department but each time there is a problem there, people blame us. BWSSB dug up the manhole near Cauvery Junction which is now overflowing and people are blaming us.”