Bengaluru municipal body retakes the onus of repairing roads cut by companies

BENGALURU: Unhappy over the shoddy road restoration done by government and private agencies, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now decided to repair the roads on its own.

A decision to this effect was taken at a recently-held coordination committee meeting of various Bengaluru-related departments chaired by the chief secretary. The BBMP, which has often batted for taking up restoration on its own instead of passing the responsibility to private and government agencies that dig the roads, has this time remained firm on its decision. The agencies will have to pay a specified restoration fee to the BBMP while seeking permission to cut the road for laying cables and pipelines.

Agencies such as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), Bescom and GAIL and telecom service providers have been digging roads and restoring them after completing their work. Blame for any delay in restoration or shoddy work falls squarely on the BBMP, its officials said.


“Though other government and private agencies lack technology and resources to restore the roads, the agencies were keen on the work as it saved them from paying the restoration fee to the BBMP. Attempts to wrest the responsibility were futile as the agencies would bring pressure from various quarters,” an engineer told ET. BBMP officials said restoration in most cases is not according to specifications. “To cut the cost, they end up doing a shoddy job. But ultimately the BBMP is held responsible.”

The BBMP has even planned to launch a separate fund for restoration.

“Since the BBMP is the custodian of Bengaluru’s roads, it makes absolute sense for us to do restoration. We have observed that the enthusiasm that these agencies show while taking up the work is lost by the time they finish the repair,” BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said.

BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief Kemaparamaiah welcomed the decision and said that his agency too prefers to deposit money with the BBMP than restore the roads by itself. “The BBMP has better technology and skill for roadrestoration,” he said.

However, the challenge before the BBMP, which has a reputation for laying poor quality roads, is to do a quality job. “So far, the civic body could blame other agencies for bad restoration. That cannot happen in future,” a BBMP engineer admitted.