BENGALURU: Observing that it felt “guilty” whenever it was informed about death of a person in an accident owing to road conditions in Bengaluru, a division bench headed by chief justice Ritu Raj Awasthi on Tuesday directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to immediately take up survey and repair works of roads in Central Business District (CBD) area.
The court said it has discussed the problem with the BBMP chief commissioner and the engineer-in-chief and wanted CBD potholes filled within 15 days. It directed civic officials to complete the survey of CBD roads in three days and added that they sign up an agency already engaged in road repair work.
“The work shall be commenced on all the major roads immediately and by using proper technology and maximum use of machines,” the HC said, adding progress reports should be filed on April 5, the next date of hearing.
Earlier, the court was informed about the death of a young person in a pothole accident on Sunday night. “We feel sorry about the untimely death of the young man… The memo has been filed by BBMP in compliance with our earlier order giving the work plan to fill up or repair potholes in the CBD area of Bengaluru city. We are not satisfied with the work plan,” the bench said. At this stage, BBMP counsel V Sreenidhi told the court the condition of roads has worsened because of road-cutting by various civic utility agencies. He argued that these agencies must be impleaded to ensure co-ordination in road maintenance.
Considering this, the court permitted him to file a necessary application giving details of agencies to be impleaded as respondents in the PIL. The BBMP counsel was permitted to implead American Road Technology (which operates Python equipment) as necessary party.
In a PIL filed in 2015, Vijayan Menon and others had sought a series of directives, including one to the BBMP for submitting an action taken report on repairing killer potholes and providing mechanism to enable citizens to file complaints about poor condition of streets.
The court said it has discussed the problem with the BBMP chief commissioner and the engineer-in-chief and wanted CBD potholes filled within 15 days. It directed civic officials to complete the survey of CBD roads in three days and added that they sign up an agency already engaged in road repair work.
“The work shall be commenced on all the major roads immediately and by using proper technology and maximum use of machines,” the HC said, adding progress reports should be filed on April 5, the next date of hearing.
Earlier, the court was informed about the death of a young person in a pothole accident on Sunday night. “We feel sorry about the untimely death of the young man… The memo has been filed by BBMP in compliance with our earlier order giving the work plan to fill up or repair potholes in the CBD area of Bengaluru city. We are not satisfied with the work plan,” the bench said. At this stage, BBMP counsel V Sreenidhi told the court the condition of roads has worsened because of road-cutting by various civic utility agencies. He argued that these agencies must be impleaded to ensure co-ordination in road maintenance.
Considering this, the court permitted him to file a necessary application giving details of agencies to be impleaded as respondents in the PIL. The BBMP counsel was permitted to implead American Road Technology (which operates Python equipment) as necessary party.
In a PIL filed in 2015, Vijayan Menon and others had sought a series of directives, including one to the BBMP for submitting an action taken report on repairing killer potholes and providing mechanism to enable citizens to file complaints about poor condition of streets.
