Bengaluru pothole repairs have been placed on an urgent footing, with Greater Bengaluru Authority Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao directing officials across the city’s five municipal corporations to identify and close potholes on major roads without delay. He also ordered action against agencies that dig up newly asphalted roads without municipal permission.
Rao issued the directions during a virtual meeting with officials from the five corporations on Wednesday. He instructed senior officers to personally inspect roads within their jurisdictions and ensure that potholes are repaired quickly. Once the work is completed, officials must update the details on the relevant software platform.
The directive also covers roads where white-topping work is under way or planned. Officials were told to ensure that such roads do not have potholes and that ongoing works are completed quickly without disrupting vehicle movement. B-SMILE officials were specifically asked to take steps to complete the works while avoiding inconvenience to traffic.
The order places responsibility for verification and reporting with senior municipal officials rather than limiting the exercise to field-level repairs. The meeting was attended by municipal commissioners Ramesh D.S., Pommala Sunil Kumar, Shilpa Nag and Ramesh K.N., along with B-SMILE chief executive officer Nithesh.
Rao also directed officials to impose fines on the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and other departments or agencies if they excavate newly asphalted roads without obtaining permission from the municipal corporation. Officials were told not to allow road digging without approval.
The meeting also reviewed a water leak from a BWSSB pipeline on Immadihalli Road near the Outer Ring Road. The concerned officials were asked to discuss the issue and take up repairs immediately. Separately, officials were instructed to address waste accumulation along Attiguppe Road and in surrounding areas.
In a related field inspection, Bengaluru West Municipal Corporation Commissioner Shilpa Nag C.T. visited the Basaveshwaranagar ward in the Rajajinagar division and the Kottigepalya ward in the Rajarajeshwarinagar division on Wednesday morning. She inspected the procedures at a waste-collection mustering point, including the attendance of auto-rickshaw drivers, junior health inspectors and ward marshals, and reviewed the loading of wet-waste compactors.
Nag directed officials and staff to manage solid-waste operations systematically and as a coordinated team, without lapses or inconvenience to residents. The inspection formed part of the broader review of municipal services discussed during the meeting.
The authorities also reported that 150 tonnes of waste had been removed from K.R. Market and surrounding areas during a special cleaning operation linked to the Deepavali festival. The operation ran from November 8 to 11 and targeted flower, fruit, पूजा-material, vegetable, plastic and other festival waste using special teams and machinery.
According to Additional Development Commissioner Venkata Chalapathi, 30 tonnes were cleared on the first day, 35 tonnes on the second, 45 tonnes on the third and 40 tonnes on the fourth. JCB machines and additional compactor vehicles were used during the operation. The pothole inspections, road-repair updates and enforcement against unauthorised excavation will now be handled by the respective municipal corporations under the GBA’s direction.
