By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Very soon Bengalureans are going to have a platform where they can click pictures of potholes and upload them. The application is developed by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which claims that the pothole will be fixed by the engineer concerned within 48 hours.

BBMP has developed two different mobile applications, one to report potholes and the other to locate them and rectify. These applications are enabled with Geographical Information System (GIS). Once the user clicks the pothole photo, he or she has to send it to Pothole Reporter application. With the help of GIS, the photo will also capture details of location, landmark and the date along with real time. Once it is done, the concerned ward engineer or major road engineer will get a message on their phone.

“The engineer has to get the pothole filled with the help of the contractor. A picture of the fixed pothole has to be captured and fed to the Pothole Locator Application which will also be GIS- enabled. In order to ensure potholes are filled at the same location where they were reported, bills will be cleared based on GIS match. If the pothole reported and rectifed is at the same location, those bills will be cleared. A seperate identity number will be generated for each pothole so that it’s easier to track.

Since December, BBMP officials have reported 21,449 potholes, out of which 9,635 potholes have been rectified by engineers. “On Tuesday, we have identified 245 potholes and rectified 49. This keeps changing every day, as and when alerts are sent to the concerned engineers to rectify,’’ official sources from the department said.

Right now, the system is being used by officials and soon can be used by public. “Right now, we are concentrating on meeting the deadline given by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. After this, the app will be allowed for public,’’ BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad said.

How it works

Click pothole picture, upload in Pothole Reporter mobile application

With the help of GIS, location will be identified and SMS will be sent to concerned engineer

Engineer will rectify with the help of contractor and upload rectified pothole photo in Locator mobile application

Bill payment will be done only after verifying pothole locations using GIS (before and after)