"Are you serious that Bengaluru roads have only 400 potholes," Karnataka High Court to BBMP

The neglect and apathy of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to repairs roads and footpaths in Bengaluru did not go down well with Karnataka High Court which on Tuesday pulled up the municipal corporation for it stance on the issue. .A Division Bench of Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty was not impressed by the submission of the authorities that there are only 439 potholes and around 4,000 other footpath distresses which have been identified in the city. and tenders have been floated for repair of footpaths.."Are you (BBMP) serious that in the entire city of Bengaluru there are only around 400 potholes? Have you understood the legal services report correctly?.The Court was referring to a report which had been been submitted earlier by the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority (KSLSA) recording issues raised by city residents on the poor conditions of roads in the city..As per the same, KSLSA had held meetings were with stakeholders and even created a WhatsApp chatbot for citizens to raises issues faced by them due to condition of roads and footpaths. About 5,435 pothole and footpaths issues were received from citizens as per the report. .The Court was also not impressed by the submission that tenders have been floated for repair of footpaths. "Will you work only when tender is processed. Till then people will fall in these ditches? If somebody in walking on the footpath, they will go down the drain," a perturbed Bench remarked. .The Bench was hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Vijayan Menon in the year 2015, highlighting the bad condition of roads in Bengaluru..During the hearing on Tuesday, two Chief Engineers of the civic body, apprised the Bench that 63 subdivision teams have been formed, who have visited the spots mentioned in the KSLSA report and repair work of potholes is on-going..The Court proceeded to direct BMP commissioner to file affidavit detailing the steps which it proposes to take for repair of potholes, bad roads, and footpath conditions in the city.."This court has already held that in case any citizen suffers from any injury or mishap due to poor condition of public streets, he has public law remedy available to seek compensation," it added..The matter will be next heard on March 30.