Pothole issue is there across country, govt is fixing it in Bengaluru: Shivakumar

Bengaluru, Sep 23 (PTI) Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said the pothole issue is there across the country, including the national capital New Delhi, and projecting in the media as if the issue is there only in Karnataka is not right.

Shivakumar, who is also the minister in charge of Bengaluru development said that the government has the duty and the responsibility to fix the issue, and it is working on it.

He also hit out at the opposition BJP for not maintaining the roads while in power and raising the issue now, keeping civic body polls in mind.

His comments came in the backdrop of industry veterans in Bengaluru like former Infosys CFO Mohandas Pai and Biocon Chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw recently urging the state government to immediately intervene, after online trucking platform BlackBuck decided to move the company out of its current location at Bellandur on Bengaluru's Outer Ring Road (ORR), citing commuting and road infrastructure issues.

Karnataka BJP has also decided to stage a road blockade protest on September 24 in all 224 Assembly constituencies on the issue of the condition of the roads across the state, especially in Bengaluru.

"We are filling potholes, despite rain, we are doing it. Work is on daily to fill about a thousand potholes in each corporation (5 corporations in Bengaluru)," Shivakumar told reporters here, before leaving for Bihar.

Stating that he had been to Delhi and had seen the roads there, he said, "Please ask your reporters there ( in Delhi) as to how many potholes are there? How many are there in the road that leads to the Prime Minister's residence?" "I want to tell big IT companies and others that such things (pothole issue) are everywhere, we are doing our job. It is there across the country, but we have a duty, we will do it," he said.

Projecting as if such things are there only in Karnataka is not right, the Deputy CM said, as he asked, "If roads were maintained during the BJP government, why such a situation would have arisen now?" "They (BJP) did not do it. Elections (corporation polls) are approaching, so they are doing it. Let it be, we will do our duty," he added.

Shivakumar, who is also the Congress state president, along with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will be going to Bihar to participate in the Congress Working Committee meeting in Patna on September 24.

"We have our Congress Working Committee Meeting in Bihar tomorrow, CM is leaving today evening. There is also an extended working committee meeting under the leadership of Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, and we will be attending it," Shivakumar said. PTI KSU ADB