‘No Excuses’: CM Siddaramaiah Sets One-Week Deadline to Fix Bengaluru’s Potholes
CM orders all potholes filled within one week.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah issued a non-negotiable ultimatum on Tuesday that every pothole in Bengaluru must vanish within seven days. The directive, delivered during the launch of white-topping projects in Gandhinagar, tightens his earlier October 31 deadline and signals zero tolerance for delays. “I have instructed Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao and Urban Development Secretary Tushar Girinath—potholes must be filled in one week,” the CM declared, blaming unprecedented monsoon fury for the backlog.
Over 20,000 potholes were officially acknowledged in a 2022 affidavit by the previous BJP regime, with independent surveys estimating the true count closer to 35,000. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar revealed that 10,000+ have already been patched since the Congress government took charge, using a transparent public-reporting system involving traffic police and a dedicated BBMP app. Yet, viral dash-cam videos of flooded craters swallowing two-wheelers and ambulances stalling in knee-deep water have kept public outrage boiling.
148 km of arterial roads are undergoing white-topping at ₹1,800 crore, promising 25–30 years of pothole-free driving. Another 350 km of black-topping (₹695 crore) and 550 km of asphalting (₹1,100 crore state grant) are in progress. A ₹4,000-crore master plan to white-top 500 km of major corridors is in final DPR stage. Siddaramaiah has ring-fenced ₹8,000 crore in the state budget for constituency-level road upgrades—distributed equally to ruling and opposition MLAs to ensure bipartisan execution.
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Shivakumar accused the central government and BJP MPs of stonewalling funds, claiming Bengaluru receives less than 15% of its GST contribution back for infrastructure. “We are delivering despite the blockade,” he asserted, listing 83 roads already under white-topping and 182 roads being re-asphalted. BBMP engineers have been put on war footing—mobile patching units with cold-mix asphalt are deployed 24/7, while night shifts tackle high-traffic zones like Outer Ring Road and Bellary Road.
With the deadline clock ticking, Bengaluru breathes a sigh of cautious relief: smoother commutes, safer rides, and the end of a decade-long civic embarrassment are now just 168 hours away—if the skies stay dry and the machinery roars.
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