BANGALORE: The Residents' Association Road parallel to the Ejipura Main Road was asphalted a few months ago. But the tar has been washed away and now the road has become unusable with the gaping potholes posing a danger to motorists.

Similar is the case of 6th Main Road in Govindarajnagar, which was asphalted last year. Though the potholes, which appeared in two months, were patched up, they have re-appeared now.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has been spending crores of rupees year after year on upgrading roads. But the condition of the roads deteriorates a few months after the implementation of every project.

This is not surprising because even three months after the expert committee set up by the Karnataka High Court to look into the status of roads in the city submitted its final report, the BMP is yet to implement the recommendations.

Though the BMP has set up a Technical Advisory Committee to study the recommendations and put them into operation, it has met only four times so far. The BMP has to submit an "action taken report" to the High Court on January 10.

This has upset the High Court committee members, who felt that the committee's efforts of one year to improve the condition of roads were being ignored by the BMP. "It is unfortunate that High Court's directions are being taken so lightly. Except for meeting and discussing some road works, the Technical Advisory Committee is doing nothing to implement the recommendations," Captain Raja Rao, who headed the High Court Committee alleged.

"We had informed the court and the BMP that the quality of roads, even those being developed under the Karnataka Municipal Reforms Project (KMRP) with World Bank assistance, is substandard. We noticed that most of the bitumin and aggregate character tests were not done. Bituminous macadem and bituminous concrete are laid without following the technical specifications and prescribed stipulations. The BMP is doing nothing to set right these violations," he said.

BMP officials said they had started the process of implementing the recommendations. "A sub-committee has been set up to bring out a handbook on best engineering practices incorporating the expert's committee's recommendations. The committee will submit its report within 30 days," a top official said. Reacting to this, Captain Raja Rao said setting up another committee would be of no help. "After sitting on the recommendations for three months, the BMP is trying to complete formalities at the last moment. This shows the civic body is not serious about implementing our recommendations," he said.

BMP Commissioner K. Jairaj told The Hindu that the civic body was gearing up to submit the "action taken report" to the court. "Based on the recommendations, we have started improvising the quality of ward works, maintaining road registers and calling for open tenders. We have also stopped issuing Letters of Credit to contractors and are making it mandatory that estimates are drawn before the work is allotted. Regular quality checks are also being done," he added.

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