On the 25th of April,
2016, the day he took charge as BBMP Commissioner, Mr. N. Manjunatha Prasad
stated that one of his priorities was to “fill
potholes before monsoon”. But so was it with the previous BBMP
Commissioners; each of them made filling potholes a priority at various points
of their tenure. Yet, in spite of the efforts of such illustrious officers, the
condition of Bengaluru’s roads remains the same. Why is it so?
Filling potholes is like using
makeup to cover blemishes on the face. The makeup hides blemishes for a while
and everything feels good. Similarly, filling potholes makes citizens,
contractors, officers and politicians happy for a while and forget what is
really wrong. Unless the underlying problems are addressed, the health of our
roads will continue to be bad and we will have the same problems yet again.
What can we do to go beyond quick fixes?
Let us get down to the
fundamentals. It is common knowledge that water is the biggest enemy of bitumen
(tar), the most widely used binding agent during preparation of our roads. When
water seeps into the road, it breaks down the binding and dislodges stones, one
by one, leading to a pothole!
Then how can we avoid water from
seeping in? Water can seep in if there are cracks in the surface of the road.
These cracks occur if the road is not laid properly for example, by use of
insufficient tar.
Water may also collect on the
surface of the road if there is no mechanism to drain it. The collected water
may percolate down and dislodge the layers beneath. To avoid this, roads should
be designed and built with a slight slope to drain off the excess water towards
the sides and not allow the water to stay on the surface for long.
Once water is drained from the
surface, it should be removed away from the edges as water can seep in from the
sides too! For this, we need an effective storm water drainage system that
effectively removes excess rain water from the streets.
If we are serious about fixing
the problem of potholes, action should be taken to tackle the problem at the
root and ensure that potholes are reduced to a minimum. The Commissioner and
his team should ensure that contractors use the best material and do not resort
to shoddy work. This is possible if the onus of maintaining the road is on the
contractor and he is penalized if the road is not maintained as per pre-defined
standards. Payment for work done should be linked to the quality of the work
and disbursed in three or four yearly installments subject to proper maintenance.
Finally, tender agreements should be amended to include these clauses and then
enforced strictly.
Having an effective storm water
drain system will also ensure better roads. BBMP should take up work to clear
the existing drains and ensure that all the water on the streets is drained
out. The storm water drain system can be made more effective by linking it to
the underground water table thus mitigating the water crisis too to some
extent.
None of the solutions suggested are
new. What BBMP lacks is the ability to think of problems in its entirety and
devise solutions keeping all aspects in mind. In such a situation, as a leader,
it’s the responsibility of the BBMP Commissioner to step in and guide his
officers in a new direction. Let us hope the new Commissioner takes on these
problems head on instead of resorting just to quick fixes and leaving it to the
next Commissioner to prioritize “filling potholes” yet again.
