Contrary to the state government’s claims that civic agencies are working in tandem, the death of a 75-year-old differently-abled man in a road accident on Monday night has triggered a blame game among the BBMP, the BDA and the BWSSB.
In essence, all three governmental agencies have washed their hands of the tragic incident and passed the buck.
Khursheed Ahmed, 65, died after falling off his four-wheeled mobility scooter which hit a trench on Manganahalli Main Road in western Bengaluru around 8.30 pm. The trench had surfaced because the road was dug up for laying a water pipeline and left unattended.
No civic agency has taken responsibility for repairing the road.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) passed the buck to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), saying the road falls under the latter’s jurisdiction.
Calling the accident unfortunate, BBMP Chief Commissioner Gaurav Gupta said: “We have verified the spot of the accident with our officials and engineers. It comes under the BDA’s jurisdiction.”
Dr H R Shantharajanna, engineer member, BDA, acknowledged that the road falls within their jurisdiction, but said a spot inspection by their engineers showed that the stretch had been “illegally” dug up by the BWSSB.
“(BWSSB) officials neither took permission from us for cutting the road nor did they restore it,” he said. As a result, the road caved in, causing a trench-like pothole, he added.
For its part, the BWSSB denies carrying out any work (including road-digging) on the stretch “recently”.
Devaraj M, Chief Engineer (West), BWSSB, said: “We didn’t take up any pipeline work in the area recently but we aren’t sure if any of our past work caused this problem.”
He, however, promised that BWSSB engineers would visit the spot soon and check past records. “I will also visit the spot to ascertain the ground reality,” he said.