By Chandrima Mazumdar
2021 starts on a positive note for Whitefield as the potholes on the ECC Road are filled. The bad stretches of Swami Vivekananda Road and from Dean’s school to Whitefield Main Road are asphalted. However, a comprehensive plan to completely re-lay the ECC Road is still under discussion.
The pothole problem
Bangalore has had to struggle with potholes for years now. For the residents of Whitefield, this problem has been far worse. The roads in the outer zone were almost reduced to rubble, especially the Nallurhalli Main Road, ITPL Road, ECC Road, Pattandur Agrahara Road, the road connecting Varthur Kodi, and Gunjur, and Belagere Road. The roads have been in poor condition both due to natural causes, such as rains, and due to the civic agencies, which either failed to wrap up on time or were deserted. During the later part of 2019, the residents have also had to struggle with what they termed as shoddy repairs when the potholes were filled with stones.
The pothole problem had been going on for quite some time before the residents, disappointed by the lack of diligence shown by the civic bodies, had taken the problem into their hands. Under the guidance of ‘Pothole Raja’, a social movement, the citizens had started the process of filling the potholes. Later, the Mahadevpura Task Force for roads and traffic, under the chairmanship of MLA Arvind Limbavali, was also created to improve the arterial roads in the area. “The Task Force works in close coordination with the residents to ensure that the projects run smoothly,” says Clement C Jayakumar, Ex-BBMP Council Member. “We ask the residents to be part of the solution, rather than just complain.”
Re-laying ECC Road
The ECC road fixing was taken by BBMP’s road and infrastructure department. Most pothole fixes are patch works and don’t last long, allege residents and don’t consider this exercise as an engineering solution. And yet, the residents are trying to ensure that the thoroughfare does not get dug up again. Netizen Ambuj Kumar insisted that the ECC Road needs fresh asphalting, and asked about the plan to completely re-lay the ECC road as part of the comprehensive development plan announced recently by the MLA. Jayakumar says that such an idea is still under discussion. However, another major digging has already been planned on the road for Phase 5 of the Cauvery Water Project. Jayakumar says, “We are discussing with BWSSB to figure out if there are any alternate routes that they can use or if they can expedite the project.”
