Bengaluru – Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday instructed officials to fill all potholes in Bengaluru within a week, following his earlier directive last month which set October 31 as the deadline for repairs across the city’s five corporation limits.

CM flags off road development projects

Siddaramaiah made the remarks while flagging off projects for comprehensive road development, including white topping, in the Gandhinagar Assembly constituency.

“I was speaking to officials, including Chief Commissioner of the Greater Bengaluru Authority Maheshwar Rao and Additional Chief Secretary to the Government, Urban Development Department Tushar Girinath. Within a week, potholes should be filled,” the CM said.

He noted that excessive rains this year had delayed pothole repairs but assured that white-topping work underway in various parts of the city would help reduce the issue. According to the CM, white-topped roads can last 25–30 years.

“We will fill the potholes and also do white topping of roads in the city,” Siddaramaiah added.

Funds allocation for constituency development

The CM announced that he is providing funds to all MLAs for development in their constituencies, with a total allocation of Rs 8,000 crore in the budget.

“The funds are being given to both urban and rural MLAs, also opposition MLAs, because we want all-round development,” he said.

Progress and future plans

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, also the in-charge Minister for Bengaluru development, said over 10,000 potholes have been filled so far.

“We have filled over 10,000 potholes till now. The Bommai government had filed an affidavit in the court that there were about 20,000 potholes in the city. We have given the public and traffic police the opportunity to identify and report potholes. We are working in a transparent way,” Shivakumar added.

Shivakumar also shared details of the white topping and road resurfacing projects:

  • White topping 500 km of roads at a cost of Rs 4,000 crore.
  • 148 km of roads already white-topped at Rs 1,800 crore, covering 83 roads.
  • Black topping 350 km of 182 roads at Rs 695 crore.
  • Asphalting 550 km of roads with an additional grant of Rs 1,100 crore from the CM.

He criticised the central government and BJP MPs for not cooperating in Bengaluru’s development.