Bengaluru Road Caves In 4 Months After Opening, Fuels "40 Per Cent" Charge

A service road built as part of a Rs 19.5-crore underpass in Bengaluru caved in on Sunday — just four months after inauguration — giving new grounds to the Congress to allege corruption in the BJP's Karnataka government.

Repair was underway at the Kundanahalli underpass that connects the eastern suburbs to other parts of the IT hub. Officials did not speak on record, but an Executive Engineer working on the civic body's Signal Free Corridor project, of which this road is a part, told NDTV: "The cave-in happened because a pipe under it broke and water seeped in over the last few days. That's why the soil was loose."

The pipeline has been repaired by the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which is responsible for underground utilities. The breakdown impacted Cauvery river water supply in some areas for up to 24 hours, said reports.

But fixing the road cave-in would take a few more days. The contractor will have to do it free of cost as the underpass is covered under the Annual Maintenance and Defect Liability clause, said officials in the civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.

Congress leader Nagaraj Yadav said this is another instance of "40 per cent" corruption, a reference to alleged cut taken by the government in contracts. The government has dismissed such charges as baseless political vendetta. 

Mr Yadav, a member of the Legislative Council, demanded that a criminal case be filed against the contractors and government officials. "There's a reason why we have been demanding a dedicated minister for the city. Chief Minister (Basavaraj Bommai) is himself the Bengaluru minister in-charge, and he has failed to keep up with his responsibilities."

He also questioned the contractors' association: "Where is the quality of work? And then they will come out saying 'we cannot do quality work because of corruption'." The contractors have not yet responded.