It’s a bad engineering

Officials on alert, leave cancelled

BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike ( BBMP ) on Tuesday declared the city would be pothole-free by November 10.Mayor M Gautham Kumar and BBMP commissioner BH Anil Kumar announced this after a review meeting with all special commissioners, eight zonal joint commissioners and chief engineers following a alert about the city receiving heavy rain in the next few days.Asked if the deadline is realistic, the mayor and commissioner asserted they’ll do everything possibleto achieve it.Gautham vented his anger at west zone joint commissioner and his engineering team, stating that his inspection had revealed they had not filled potholes. The mayor had ridden a two-wheeler in Malleswaram and other west zone areas recently. “Engineers and zonal heads have failed to fill potholes though it has been 20 days since I raised the issue. I’m being questioned by people that I can’t fill a single pothole. Officials and engineers should be ashamed,” Gautham told the engineers.“Engineers need to prioritise their tasks. Every year, we spend huge amounts on tarring roads and if we cannot provide motorable roads to taxpayers, then engineers do not have the right to use official cars. Let them come to office on two-wheelers to experience what a common man undergoes,” Gautham told TOI later.Anil Kumar said he’s ready to take the blame for the poor state of roads. “Poor engineering is to blame for the potholes. Assistant engineers will be held responsible and action initiated against them. Roads have not been laid in such a way that water drains out on its own. Water is the No. 1 enemy of tar and engineers have been directed to use the cold bitumen method to fill potholes,” he said.Kumar said all zonal, storm water drain and lake chief engineers have been put on an alert for the next three days and have been ordered to take precautionary measures to prevent flooding. “I’ve cancelled all leave of officials. We have redeployed our Prahari vehicles which were only centrally functioning. Now, they have been sent to all zones to ensure that flooding points are attended to on priority. Two heavy duty pumps have been procured by the storm water drain section and I’ve ordered these be procured for other zones too,” he said.