Several flyovers in the city have developed cracks or have pieces of it falling down.
Dipali, a commuter, said, “The flyover seems very weak. I’ve seen the crack on the flyovers and have seen cement pieces crumbling down too, it scares me. BBMP really has to do something about this.”
One of the main reasons for the recent crumbling down of a part of the Sumanahalli flyover was the lack of maintenance due to a lack of surveys by the authority. According to the Indian Roads Congress, road safety audits should be conducted on a yearly basis whether required or not by the BBMP. Though the BBMP had proposals for audit on the flyovers, due to the lack of support it all went in vain.
A.S Ramesh, Executive Engineer (BBMP) said that they’ve done nothing so far. Only after 25-30 years the normal maintenance of the flyover tales place. He also said that “we will appoint some expert consultant to check the bearing but in the recent construction we didn’t do anything.”
Expert in urban planning, Mr. Srinivas highlighted the reasons due to which the flyovers in the city exist in such bad forms. He also said, “The people who are supposed to be fixing this (i.e) the contractors and the engineers actually benefit from this, people don’t realize that the more no of times the roads are to be made the more money these contractors make. So there is no incentive to make new roads. Thus there’s another contractor who comes into play again and again and the cycle continues. ”
The commuters feel that there is a need for BBMP to ensure that the repairs works are taken on a priority basis keeping in mind the safety of the people.
