Pothole complaints on Bengaluru local roads ignored, finds study

An analysis of data from the BBMP’s FixMyStreet app revealed that a whopping 61 per cent of complaints were related to roads less than 12 metres wide.

Despite citizens complaining about local roads, the BBMP lavished funds on repairing potholes in arterial and sub-arterial roads.

Analysis of the app data that mainly registers pothole-related complaints is the outcome of a data jam exercise conducted by Open City, a programme of Oorvani Foundation, along with Janaagraha and Ward Samithi Balaga.

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During Monday’s exercise, volunteers studied the BBMP’s budgets, work orders and other public data to analyse how the civic body was managing its funds. 

“Complaints related to potholes mostly came from the northern parts of the peripheral areas of Bengaluru. Work orders for fixing potholes did not exactly coincide with citizen complaints. Work orders issued for pothole management were concentrated in the peripheral areas of the south,” the analysis found.

It also observed that the accidents occurring in the central parts of Bengaluru were due to potholes.

The day-long exercise involving citizen volunteers, including urban designers, GIS experts, journalists and policy enthusiasts, also studied the cess and surcharge components of the property tax and found that the BBMP did not share how the money was being utilised.

It also found uneven distribution of dry waste collection centres and poor waste segregation in inner localities such as Chickpet and Shivajinagar.