DK Shivakumar takes night rides in Bengaluru to inspect roads after ‘pothole free city in 15-days' promise

Karnataka deputy chief minister and Bengaluru development minister DK Shivakumar inspected the tech capital's roads on Tuesday night. Along with the BBMP officials, Shivakumar toured important roads in the city and sought details about ongoing repair works.

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Before leaving for his USA trip earlier this month, DK Shivakumar set a 15-day deadline for the civic body to fix all the potholes in the city. As the BBMP started pothole-filling works on selected roads, the deputy CM took a ground reality check. He initially visited Trinity Junction, where the asphalting is being done, and then visited other areas like Jayamahal Road, Domlur and Indiranagar.

Earlier, former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai slammed DK Shivakumar for not meeting the deadline that he had set for himself before leaving for the USA. In an X post, Pai said, “Minister @DKShivakumar, you promised to fix potholes in Bengaluru within 15 days and then went to the US on holiday? We continue to suffer! What happened to your promise? Can citizens trust your word anymore?”

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DK Shivakumar promised a pothole-free Bengaluru within 15 days and directed the BBMP officials to repair roads. He said, “I asked the BBMP commissioner to fill all the potholes in Bengaluru in the next 15 days. The civic body found 2,795 potholes across the city, and they will be filled at a cost of ₹660 crore. Compared to previous years, people are now less affected by rains.”

BBMP earlier deployed special vehicles to track potholes which are mounted with Artificial Intelligence cameras. Along with potholes, these cameras will also capture damaged streetlights, footpaths and other things that cause the civic menace in streets. BBMP commissioner earlier said, “These vehicles will travel at 5km per hour speed and all 15 vehicles will together cover 300 km a day. The data collected by these cameras will help civic officials fix the roads.”