‘Doing our job’: DK Shivakumar on Bengaluru pothole repairs, unveils a plan

DIsmissing mounting unfavorable judgment o'er chuckhole repairs in Bengaluru, mysore surrogate chief minister DK Shivakumar on Wednesday defended his government's ongoing efforts to fix the city's battered roads.The Congress leader declared the Karnataka administration was committed to "changing the perception" about the city's crumbling infrastructure."Everything is getting done well. We are going to change the perception created by the media and the opposition about Bengaluru city. We are at it. We are doing our job," he told PTI.The deputy chief minister, who also holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, had just returned from a city-wide inspection of roadworks, including pothole patching. He was responding to complaints about the standard of work undertaken to fill potholes and address road-related issues in the city.According to Shivakumar, around 13,000 potholes have been filled so far, and another 4,000-5,000 identified will be repaired in stages. He said he had instructed officials to draw up a ₹1,100-crore action plan to develop 550 km of arterial roads in the city.Notably, Shivakumar highlighted that Karnataka is the only state in India that invited the public to report potholes, claiming this as a sign of transparency and responsiveness."Nowhere in the country has a government given the public an offer to show where the potholes are. Only Karnataka has done it. My government and my officials have done it," he added.Action plan in motion, says ShivakumarShivakumar revealed that he has directed officials to prepare a ₹1,100-crore action plan to upgrade 550 kilometres of arterial roads across Bengaluru.This comes days after Chief Minister Siddaramaiah set a 30-day deadline for officials to make all city roads motorable."We have more than 1.2 crore vehicles passing through Bengaluru every day, and more than 50 lakh vehicles coming from outside. Still, we are at it and it is our job," he said.Shivakumar on 'congestion tax'Dismissing reports about a possible 'congestion' tax, he clarified, "There have been some discussions and a few opinions shared, but we have not taken it up. We are not at that point yet."The Congress government in Karnataka has been facing criticism over the poor state of Bengaluru's roads. Industry veterans, including former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, have urged immediate intervention.The outrage intensified after online trucking platform BlackBuck announced plans to move its office out of Bellandur on the city's Outer Ring Road (ORR), citing "commuting difficulties" and "poor road infrastructure".