Check quality of the road on which PM travelled: Govt directs BBMP

Bengaluru: The state government has directed the Chief Commissioner of BBMP to check the quality of road repair work done at the time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in the city. Apart from that, it has also informed to release the amount of work under Section 4G.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had arrived in Bengaluru last June for the implementation of various works. During this time, a 14 - km long road in the city was repaired and re-asphalted at a cost of Rs 23.5 crore. There was an allegation that the repair work done in Kommaghatta area was pulled down the day after the Prime Minister came to the city. Now, the state government has instructed the Chief Commissioner of BBMP to check the quality of the work. Bellary Road, Mysore Road, Bangalore University Road, Tumkur Road and Kommaghatta Road were repaired. In this, a pothole was seen on the road in Kommaghatta area. Now, Urban Development Department has instructed BBMP to get exemption under 4G for the work on the same road and pay the bill. It has also been suggested to pay Rs 11.5 crore to contractors out of the Rs 40 crore allocated for discretionary works of the Chief Minister under the Amruta Nagarothana Grant.

The road was re-asphalted on 8 places within the Kommaghatta main road. Among them, the asphalting of Mariappanapallya Road from Bangalore University to Kengeri outer ring road was damaged within a day. However, a bill amount of Rs 1 crore has been fixed for that road. The urban development department has mentioned in its order to pay that amount.

Conduct quality checks and prepare reports It has been 4 months since the work was done, and the urban development department, which did not take any action when the road was open up and damaged within two days of the work, has now instructed the BBMP to check the road quality while paying the bill. Importantly, it has been informed that the Chief Commissioner should personally check that the work for which the bill is being paid has been completed. It is also suggested that the quality of work should be checked by the concerned Chief Engineer. It has also been ordered to conduct a quality inspection of the road repair work by a reputable organization and prepare a report and submit that report to the government.