‘We have set deadline to fill potholes’: Deputy CM DK Shivakumar

BENGALURU: Stating that a deadline has been set to fill the potholes in Bengaluru,  Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Thursday said that he would not evade responsibility.

Speaking to reporters at Vidhana Soudha, DK Shivakumar said, “It is natural for roads to have potholes during the rainy season, and we have given a deadline to fill them. We have also instructed MLAs to use the grants to fill the potholes.”

When asked why the pothole issue persists even after spending thousands of crores, Shivakumar said, “We have given a deadline and allocated responsibilities to officials. There have been many potholes around Vidhana Souda due to overnight rains yesterday, and it is natural. We are working to fix this issue. The issue will not be resolved just because some people tweet about it and some people issue media statements.”

On being asked about Kumaraswamy’s tweet that the Deputy Chief Minister is scaring IT companies and start-ups from Bengaluru due to potholes, he said, “What is Kumaraswamy’s contribution to Bengaluru as a Union minister? The UPA government had given a lot of funds to Bengaluru under the Jawaharlal urban renewal mission. He is the right-hand man of the PM. Why can’t he get Rs 10000 crores for Bengaluru city? He had said that he would get approvals for the Mekedatu project in 5 minutes. What happened to it?”

When asked if the Union government was deliberately neglecting Bengaluru, he said, “Certainly, the Union government has not given a single rupee for Bengaluru’s development.”

Asked if departments would face a funds crunch due to allocation of funds to the Upper Krishna project, he said, “This is completely false; there is no such proposal. We are committed to completing this project. The Centre should not succumb to pressure from any state on the Upper Krishna project”, Shivakumar said. (ANI)