The road not taken: Officials on long walks to fix civic issues

Senior BBMP officials have been taking 10-kilometre morning inspection walks daily to get a first-hand feel of the road infrastructure in all eight zones.

BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath on Monday took the first inspection walk with a retinue of officials. The nine-kilometre walk covered parts of the Outer Ring Road, Kacharakanahalli Lake, Lingarajapuram flyover, Gundappa Matta Road, among others, in the East Zone.

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During the walk, officials plan to solve all the issues plaguing the roads, right from clearing blackspots, plugging potholes, low-hanging cables or unpruned tree branches.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has planned the morning walks in the following zones: East (Monday), West (Tuesday), RR Nagar (Wednesday), South (Thursday), and Bommanahalli (Friday).

Besides the chief commissioner and zonal commissioners, no engineer will have prior knowledge of the roads to be covered. The exercise is also aimed to strengthen zonal commissioners who are asked to spend the second half of the day at their respective offices and address citizen grievances.

Eventful day 1

On Monday, Girinath and his team started their inspection at 6.30 am near Hennur flyover and ended around 10 am at the Kammanahalli flyover.

What stunned the senior officers is that the zonal and ward engineers had never inspected most of these roads to understand the ground reality.

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Officials discovered dangerously hanging optic fibre cables (OFCs), uncollected garbage, encroached footpaths, absence of streetlights, and potholes.

Girinath said garbage collection vehicles, tractors and earthmovers will also be pressed into service during the inspection drive.

“It is going to be a team exercise. We will make the best use of whatever resources we already have, be it silt and tractor facilities, JCBs or garbage collection vehicles. As we walk, we will also initiate action,” he said.

During the inspection, BBMP officers also found that Kacharakanahalli Lake, spread over 16 acres and 8 guntas, will be developed at an estimated cost of Rs 7.5 crore. The lake will be first surveyed and encroachments cleared before rejuvenation work begins, officials said.