Fill potholes, repair roads on war footing: Karnataka High Court to BBMP

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to commence filling of potholes on a "war footing", and finish all such road repairs within 15 days. [Vijayan Menon v. Secretary and Anr]..The Division Bench of Chief Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi and Justice S R Krishna Kumar directed the BBMP, the city's municipal corporation, to undertake a survey of the roads in the Central Business District (CBD) area within 3 days, and using appropriate technology to fill to aid the repairs. "This is not proper that people are dying on roads because of bad conditions. How long can we tolerate this?" asked the Chief Justice, as the Bench expressed regret that a young person had died due to potholes recently. .In compliance of the Court's earlier orders, the BBMP had submitted its work plan to fill up and repair potholes. The High Court was not satisfied with the work plan and after discussing the same, directed that the road work should take place on a war footing and be completed within 15 days. The same machines that were earlier used for repairs should be employed, the Bench said..The High Court directed that the various agencies involved in road-cutting should be impleaded in the case, so that they can take some responsibility and road work could be coordinated effectively. .The Court stated that they no longer have patience with the BBMP, and directed its Chief Engineer to be present before the Court on the next date of hearing, along with the status report. .The High Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation petition filed in the 2015, highlighting the bad condition of roads in Bengaluru. In previous hearings, the Chief Engineer of the BBMP had been directed to be present , and the Court had expressed their distress at the terrible condition of roads in the city. .Advocate Shreenidhi appeared for the respondent-BBMP. The case is to be heard next after 15 days.