The head-shaking scene of various government agencies destroying brand new roads, drains and footpaths to install their cables or pipelines is a common sight in Bengaluru. Such ill-timed projects are a blatant waste of the public funds and there seems to be no system in place to prevent overlaps.
The latest example is the ₹1 crore spent by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike on freshly asphalting 4.5 kms of Race Course Road. The money has effectively been flushed down the drain thanks to a yet another uncoordinated dig .
A mere three months after the road was repaired and newly tarred, the Karnataka Power Transportation Corporation Limited (KPTCL) has already destroyed the work through a digging operation of its own.
The incident occurred barely a kilometre away from the Chief Minister's official residence.
The fresh dig was undertaken to lay a 66 KV underground line to supply electricity to the underground Metro rail project near Cantonment. KPTCL officials monitoring the work told Asianet Newsable that they had appealed the BBMP not to rush the asphalting job. The officials claimed they had requested the BMMP to delay the work by a week, allowing them to finish laying the imported cable - which costs several crore.
Sashikumar, Assistant Executive Engineer, KPTCL, said, "BBMP did not give time and the officials in Major Road Department in BBMP claimed they had orders from the CM's office to execute the project. This road is used by VVIPs and was asphalted recently, at the end of January as well. The current work was done for the Global Investors Meet."
With regards to the damage to the new road, the KPTCL said they had already paid compensation for the loss.
"We have already deposited about ₹1 crore into the BBMP's account for the damage. After fixing the power cables, we will take up restoration work. But there will still be visible patches," said Sashikumar.
Major Road Department Chief Engineer of the BBMP, KT Nagaraj, also plead helplessness, stating to Asianet Newsable that multiple agencies routinely ignored the BBMP's works to dig as they pleased, and the BMMP lacked the authority to stop them from doing so.
Experts pitched for coordination among agencies to avoid wastage of public money:
Urban Experts like Vivek Menon, who pitched for having a better coordination among various civic agencies said,"There is a need for a proper GIS system and the same should be used among the agencies. Instead of blaming BBMP, the KPTCL should have finished its work in advance. Soon these patches (visible on Race Course Road) will widen and inconvenience motorists."
V Ravichander, Urban Expert and Bengaluru Restructuring Committee Member, blamed such missteps to an absence of a coordination committee.
"Recently a committee under the chairmanship of Bengaluru District in-charge minister was setup. The government order is yet to come. Once it comes, there will be a lot of clarity and all the agencies will be monitored by committee. This will help understand the projects and its impact." he said.
Sridhar Pabbisetty, CEO, Namma Bengaluru Foundation said, "There is an absence of systematic planning in Bengaluru City, and there is an absolute lack of coordination among civic agencies before planning and executing any public project, hence wastage of public money. Metropolitan Planning Committee that has experts from the field is the need of the hour."
