Eye on Bengaluru ahead of Karnataka polls: Pothole capital and land of forever dug-up roads

There have been 269 ‘officially’ reported pothole deaths in Karnataka between 2014 and 2021 and most of them were in Bengaluru.

‘Lay-a-road-dig-it-up’ almost works itself into a rap theme for Bengaluru. Ahead of the May 10 state polls, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been asphalting roads in several locations across the city on a war footing. But anyone who has been living in the city long enough is sure to wager that the same roads will be dug up soon enough.

A light drizzle on March 29 evening laid bare the shoddy work, exposing the poor quality of roads. It’s only a teaser to the possible state of roads in the city in the months to come. Matters are so dire that traffic cops often jump in, filling craters on busy stretches themselves to allow for uninterrupted flow of traffic.

“Poor road quality is always a major issue in Bengaluru. This is one aspect the city never gets right due to various reasons. Only a few select pockets in the central business district like St Marks Road have good roads. There is high pressure on roads since public transport share is only 48 percent and the remaining 52 percent are private vehicle users," said Revathy Ashok, chief executive officer and managing trustee at Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC), an NGO.

Srinivas Alavilli, fellow, Integrated Transport and Road Safety, World Resources Institute, points out that the biggest problem in this regard is the rampant corruption and poor work quality of municipal corporations. “BBMP should decentralise the work and make ward-level engineers accountable for the roads. An official working out of BBMP head office obviously won't be able to monitor the work across the city,” he pointed out.

There have been 269 ‘officially’ reported pothole deaths between 2014 and 2021 in Karnataka (see graphics) and most of them were in Bengaluru. Such cases often remain under-reported with two-wheelers being the most vulnerable to such accidents.

In September 2021, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the state government spent Rs 20,060 crore for Bengaluru roads in five years. He also stated that only 1,344 km of the 11,283.05 km of roads in the city was motorable. This was against the backdrop of the BJP-led state government facing flak after D Kempanna, president, Karnataka State Contractors’ Association, alleged a '40 percent commission' system for projects including roadwork.

A Comptroller and Auditor General of India report for 2020-21 found that BBMP roads in Bengaluru—with an average of 19-20 mishaps per km—are more dangerous for motorists than state highways (8.87 accidents per km) and national highways (7.39 accidents per km) in Karnataka.

Crores of rupees spent on fixing potholes

According to BBMP records, the civic body spent around Rs 59 crore in 2021-22, Rs 14 crore in 2020-21, Rs 46 crore in 2019-20 and around Rs 40 crore in 2022-2023 to repair potholes on arterial and sub-arterial roads. However, the actual amount spent on filling potholes is likely to be many times over since expenses undertaken for the work are often filed under road relaying.

Within Bengaluru Metropolitan Area, the Public Works Department manages the road network outside the purview of BBMP. Mumbai-based activist Ajay Basudev Bose filed an RTI application to Karnataka's Public Works Department and found they spent Rs 2.15 crore to fill potholes in 2022 alone. "Every time it rains in Bengaluru, the potholes get worse, leading to deaths, so I decided to file an RTI to PWD. I plan to file another RTI to BBMP as well.”

13 departments on a digging spree

Apart from the poor quality of roads, poor coordination among multiple agencies too reduces the lifespan of roads. At least 13 departments are involved in the enterprise of digging the city’s roads—the electricity utility Bescom, water and sewage body BWSSB, GAIL Gas, Bengaluru Metro and a whole line-up of others (see graphics). Lack of coordination among these agencies is a major reason for roads in perfect condition being turned inside out. In January 2023, the state government notified the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority (BMLTA), a unified body to improve coordination among agencies, after receiving the governor's approval. However, BMLTA remains on paper.

Clement Jayakumar, secretary, Mahadevapura Task Force (Mobility), an MLA constituted body that tracks developments in the tech-corridor, said: "It’s not just lack of communication between two different agencies, even multiple departments within the same institution have no coordination. BBMP should facilitate a single window for all digging permissions and create an interactive app that can quickly give the details of road digging approvals by road number. This information also should be made available to the general public.”

‘Potholes can’t be done away with completely’

“Potholes will always be there,” Tushar Girinath, BBMP chief commissioner, told Moneycontrol. “Old roads will have potholes but we will have to fill them on time. We are not claiming that the next spell of rain will not create potholes. They happen due to anomalies in the surface. There are places where water accumulates. We are trying to ensure good quality while laying new roads with a proper drainage system so that it lasts longer and water doesn’t stagnate. Drains are also being cleared but old roads will still have potholes. Potholes can’t be done away with completely,” he said.

According to Girinath, work on upgrading 12 high-density roads in Bengaluru has begun. “We hadn’t invested much on roads in the last two-three years but this year we have put in a lot of money, so there will be visible improvement in the condition of roads.”

BS Prahalad, chief engineer (road and infrastructure), BBMP, told Moneycontrol that citizens can use the ‘Fix my street’ app to register complaints on poor roads they spot. The civic body launched the app in 2017 but restricted access to the public two years later and relaunched it in January 2023.

Norms not followed: expert

Norms not being followed while building roads is a major reason why they aren’t durable, said Srikanth Channal, chairman, Association of Consulting Civil Engineers (Bengaluru chapter). “Roads are like, say, a dress or jacket—the quality of material is one aspect but other factors like stitching, thread, style and size are also important. Durability of roads increases if water stagnation can be prevented. Rainwater should ideally flow into the drainage but camber correction (traverse slope) is not being followed on most roads,” he said.

Channal added: “In most roads in places like Mahalakshmi Layout, there are no drainage outlets, so in such cases, how can we expect the roads to be durable?”

High court intervention

The Karnataka High Court intervened in the pothole issue after Vijayan Menon, Koramangala resident and president of Citizens’ Action Forum, an NGO, filed a public interest litigation following pothole-related deaths.

“We decided to file a PIL after several lives were lost from falling into potholes. A lot of things have improved especially in Central Bengaluru after our petition. But outer areas including the tech corridors are still in bad shape. Ward committees should take ownership of each road and ensure that the civic body does not compromise on the quality," he said.

During the PIL hearing, the court pulled up the civic agency several times and set strict deadlines to fix potholes. The court even observed that Bengaluru is attracting a bad name because of potholes and also orally observed that it felt guilty whenever it saw reports about deaths in accidents due to the bad condition of city roads. Following the PIL, the court in 2019 directed BBMP to offer Rs 15,000 in compensation to people who suffer injuries due to damaged roads. In case of death, families will receive Rs 3 lakh.

Corporates pitching in

On March 27, a private company under its CSR funds began work on a model road in Peenya industrial area. The road project (NTTF Road in Peenya) is being executed by Radiall along with social venture PotHoleRaja.  The model road will have an efficient drainage system to prevent flooding during the monsoon, and utility trenches for cross-wiring will be constructed to avoid disruption to any public utility services. For footpaths, PotHoleRaja Gridmats, made from 100 percent recycled plastic, will be used, a statement said.

Sourabh Kumar, director, PotHoleRaja, said: "We need more CSR initiatives like this that can help us in creating citizen-friendly infrastructure. These have a large impact on the quality of life of citizens in the area and improve road safety. We encourage more firms to set aside their CSR funds for impactful projects like these and join us in our endeavour to improve road infrastructure across the country.” A similar project was earlier executed from Dasarahalli Junction to ABB-Wistron Road connecting to TVS Junction, Peenya.