After rain, potholes resurface yet again affecting Bengaluru traffic

Bengaluru roads worsen due to rains, BBMP struggles to fill potholes, causing traffic woes for commuters.

With Bengaluru receiving rains over the last few days, the condition of roads, which were already bad, has worsened, making it hard for motorists to commute. 

In September earlier this year, at the end of the monsoon season, Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D. K. Shivakumar set a 15-day deadline to fill all potholes and the civic body claimed to fill all of them. However, October rains led to many potholes resurfacing. The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been struggling to complete the work due to “unconducive weather conditions” since then.

BBMP Chief Engineer (road infrastructure), B.S. Prahhad talking to The Hindu said the pothole filling exercise was an “ongoing process”. “The BBMP is doing its best to provide safe roads for commuters,” he said. 

According to the data shared by the BBMP, of the 9,796 potholes identified based on the complaints filed on the dedicated app to report potholes, 5,828 have been filled. Around 2,522 reports were rejected due to duplicate complaints and because many of these potholes are on roads that still come under the defect liability period. Contractors have been asked to fix them. As on Wednesday (December 4, 2024), 729 new potholes were reported and fresh work orders were issued to fill 519. 

However, stretches of Bannerghatta road, Outer Ring Road, Wilson Garden, Kammanahalli, Sarjapur road, Whitefield, Uttarahalli, J.P. Nagar and other areas of the city are rid with large potholes affecting everyday traffic movement. Ongoing white-topping work has only added to woes of the commuters as a few roads are shut and traffic is diverted. 

Naveen G., an IT employee who commutes daily on Puneeth Rajkumar Road (ORR) said that the condition of the road has been bad since October. “Due to potholes movement of vehicles has become slow resulting in a longer travel time. Between October and November, the BBMP did fill some potholes but they have resurfaced after recent rains,” he said.