potholes

They are not just a danger to life and limb. Bengaluru’s potholed roads are also inspiring artists and activists to get creative about their modes of protest at the poor state of the city’s roads. While artist Badal Nanjundaswamy frequently takes inspiration from a well-formed pothole to unleash his creativity, Aam Aadmi Party activists recently held a Pothole Habba to “celebrate” the city' potholes. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), the city’s civic body in charge of ensuring road quality had, in 2018, come up with a grand plan of concretising roads to erase potholes, presumably (and disputably) forever. Called white…

Today, the BBMP Council elected M Gowtham Kumar as Bengaluru's new Mayor. Kumar, the BJP corporator from Jogupalya ward, replaces Gangambike Mallikarjun of the Congress. Here is a look at Gangambike's accomplishments, and the causes she had taken up in her tenure as Mayor. Pushing for ward committee meetings: In BBMP Council’s monthly session in November 2018, Gangambike announced that ward committee meetings should mandatorily be held in all 198 wards on the first Saturday of each month, starting immediately. Her announcement came after the city’s civic activists ran several campaigns for the cause over the years. Ward committee meetings…

Palike appoints marshals to catch citizens dumping garbage BBMP Counsel D N Nanjunda Reddy informed the High Court during the hearing held on November 5 that throwing of garbage in black spots beautified by pourakarmikas for Kannada Rajyotsava still continues. In response, the HC bench headed by Chief Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, directed the Palike to file criminal complaints and fine the litterers as per the guidelines under the Karnataka Open Spaces (Prevention of Disfigurement) Act 1981. An affidavit with specific details of the violations is to be submitted before the next court hearing on December 15. 2018. Over the last…

Panathur, situated near Kadubeesanahalli area in East Bengaluru, despite being the bridge to Outer Ring Road and Varthur where many tech parks are located, has always been a disguised rich slum. For people who migrate to Bengaluru thinking that it is an IT hub, the dreams shatter on the very first day, when they see the traffic here. Many multi-million dollar companies have their offices in the vicinity and the place is home to many good apartments - “good” as long as the residents are inside. What does a usual day on Panathur road look like? Even on the weekends,…

Pothole dynamics: Of risk and neglect It is a known fact that Chennai's roads are riddled with potholes, so much so that they no longer appear to be a major problem. Only a long time resident of the metropolis, who has walked and driven on the roads for years, would be aware of the inconvenience and risks.   Potholes are the result of callousness of Chennai Corporation officials. The substandard roads laid by the civic body allows stagnation and slow seepage of water into the soil. This results in wear and tear of the roads, forming potholes.   When the…

Vittal Mallya Road was built about five years ago. When it was built, it was proposed as a higher order of design than the roads that BBMP usually builds. The difference consists of three key elements: a level and continuous footpath ducting of all utilities a concrete surface of uniform width Plus some nice things like better lighting, and a little vegetation. In Tender SURE, most of these became standard, and in BBMP we improved the design by re-doing the way the storm water drains are built. The road cost a lot of money to build. But it was a…

The road connecting Kanakpura road and BDA 80 feet ring road has been in a terrible state for years now. It has open manholes and the road is covered with potholes which are potentially fatal in nature. Open manholes dot the road. Pic: VK Srivatsa The pothole-ridden road. Pic: VK Srivatsa There are multiple instances of two-wheeler riders getting injured every day. If they try avoiding a pothole by swerving to the left or right, they could fall into one of the open manholes. And if they try to avoid the manhole, there is a good chance they can break their…

In October 2015, I had written an article on the absence of asphalted roads in Akshayanagar Layout, off Bannerghatta Road.  In the past 2.5 months, much work has happened on the Hulimavu-Begur stretch. The stretch of road, which previously looked like this...  ...has been tarred as seen below here. The entire Hulimavu-Begur road stretch till DLF New Town has been repaired and asphalted. Having said this, the Yelenahalli Road continues to remain a nightmare. (This picture was taken in November 2015) Along with complaints and concerns, it is also essential to highlight the positive action taken by local administration. Hoping…

The Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield stretches more than two kilometres connecting Varthur Road to Borewell Road. This area falls under Ward  84, Hagduru under Mahadevapura constituency. This has about a thousand residential dwellings mostly in the form of flats and villas. With quite a few of them being relatively new apartments, there are at least about 600 families who are staying here at present and this number is expected cross 1,000 in the next few months. This road also is home to a beautiful lake named Sheelavanthana kere. Giant potholes and non-functional street lights on the Ramagondanahalli-Borewell Road in Whitefield.…

This is Akshayanagar Layout, situated off Bannerghatta Road (Note: Akshayanagar is also the name of another layout situated in Ramamurthy Nagar, Bangalore). Sandwiched between Hulimavu Lake on one side and Begur Lake on the other, Akshayanagar is an upcoming locality with several residential projects under construction currently. Owing to its proximity to Bannerghatta Road, Electronic City and Jigani, it is a much sort after locality by Bangalore’s techie population. Akshayanagar Layout can be accessed from Bannerghatta Road via the BDA 80 feet road (one of the many access points), which joins the Hulimavu-Begur Road, and further connects to the Yelenahalli…