#Whitetopping Beda: As BBMP expedites whitetopping work in Bengaluru, citizens in many areas say no to the project

Explaining their opposition to whitetopping of Sanjaynagar Main Road, Vignan Gowda, a resident of the area, said that just five years ago, the civic body, in coordination with the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), laid a good road and redid footpaths at a cost of ₹13 crore. Now, the BBMP wants to spend even more money to redo the same stretch.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has begun work on white-topping a total of 157 km of road in the city in phases. The civic body has got clearance from the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) to take up work on 48 stretches, and work has begun in most of these stretches. Currently, work is ongoing in multiple places with roads dug up for installation of utilities before laying the concrete blocks. 

However, residents in many areas where road stretches are being taken up to be white-topped, have raised red flags. They oppose the project for various reasons, including terming it ‘wasteful expenditure’, demanded public consultation, and in one instance have even launched a campaign #Whitetopping Beda on social media. 

In Sanjaynagar the BBMP has laid foundation stone to white-top a 3.5 km stretch of Sanjaynagar Main Road. However, residents here have launched a #Whitetopping Beda campaign. 

Explaining their opposition to whitetopping of the road, Vignan Gowda, a resident of the area, said that just five years ago, the civic body, in coordination with the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT), laid a good road and redid footpaths at a cost of ₹13 crore. Now, the BBMP wants to spend even more money to redo the same stretch.

“We have other civic problems, like no space for parking. The BBMP can utilise the money it is spending on whitetopping to fix these problems,” he said. 

The Hindu recently reported that work orders for asphalting a set of seven roads in Chamarajpet Assembly constituency at a cost of ₹23 crore were issued on February 2, 2024. The same day, tenders were issued to whitetop the same set of roads at a cost of ₹98 crore. 

Sriramegowda, president of Chamarajpet Nagarikara Okkuta, said the civic body had violated its own rules that newly asphalted roads cannot be dug up for any reason for a period of three years. He demanded that the civic body immediately withdraw the work order for white-topping these roads, terming the project ‘wasteful expenditure’, as they have been recently asphalted.