British-era drain delays roadwork on Cottonpet Main Road in Bengaluru

The surprise discovery of the British-era drains, and the extra work cost the exchequer an additional Rs 1.18 crore, a BBMP officials said.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

The discovery of a British-era drainage system on Bengaluru’s Cottonpet Main Road has significantly delayed roadworks which are underway on the thoroughfare. Construction work began in February this year, and the deadline for completion was September. However, two months later, the work continues.  Cottonpet Main Road, a stone’s throw away from the main bus station, metro and railway stations, is typically bustling with traffic. Yet earlier this week, the road wore a deserted look in the middle of the day, devoid of travellers or customers.  Prahlad BS, who works in the BBMP’s road infrastructure division, told TNM that the work was severely delayed due to the discovery of the British-era drain. “While we were undertaking the work, the British drain collapsed suddenly, and we didn’t even know about its existence. It is made of red brick in an arch-shape tunnel system and was not able to hold up. We had to replace everything and that took a lot of time.” View of the British pipeline which BBMP officials encountered “We were able to complete the work for about 300 metres, and have handed over the same to the TenderSure officials. The rest of the underground drainage work should be completed in 3-4 days,” he said.  The surprise discovery of the British era drains, and the extra work cost the exchequer an additional Rs 1.18 crore, according to the official. The Cottonpet road work comes under the city-wide TenderSure scheme, which is developing and improving roads around the KR Market and Majestic area at an estimated cost of Rs 9 crore. The 1.3 kilometre-long road was supposed to be concreted and paved within the September deadline, but the deadline has been extended to next year. However, only a small part of the road has been concretised so far. On a recent Tuesday, electrical equipment was seen laying on the sides of the road, and a JCB earthmover was also seen digging up the site. “We are waiting for the BWSSB and stormwater drain work to be completed before we go ahead with the white-topping and paving work. We have put white topping already on about 180 metres of the road. We expect to complete it by February 2020,” Chandrashekar N, a BBMP official said.  This isn't the first time that the legacy British sewers have stumped our engineers. The TenderSure roadwork on Church Street was similarly delayed by British pipelines. The changing governments in the past two years have also been one of the causes of delays.   Read: 3 deadlines missed: Why Bengaluru's Church Street construction is delayed   Small connecting roads, which residents use to get around without the main road, are also in bad shape. A local road parallel to the Uttarapet police station leading towards Cottonpet has been dug up. While the severely uneven stretch has been concreted on one end, the other end is still covered in gravel. Cottonpet main road is usually considered a busy business area for lodges and small eateries, due to its proximity to the railway station and Bengaluru’s main bus station. The work left incomplete has affected the quality of life in the area - dust, potholes, mosquitoes and flies have become common. “My son got dengue last month, and I spent so much money on treatment. We have no other place to go, our house and business are all here,” said Sheela, a resident. A lodge owner said that business is also slow. “Out of the 120 rooms in our lodge, there are about 70 vacant ones. Business has never been this bad before.” Other lodging establishments were affected even worse, looking empty and bereft of customers.  

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