Big plans, broken roads: Bengaluru’s civic year in a nutshell

From asphalting roads to ‘Kasa Suriyuva Habba’, the Bengaluru civic authority rolled out multiple initiatives and announced ‘futuristic’ projects in 2025 but once again failed to address the city’s basic pressing issues.

This year, pedestrians had to search for the footpaths yet again, dustbins edged towards extinction, and never-ending asphalting works on stretches such as J.C. Road troubled commuters.

According to data, civic bodies filled around 22,000 potholes in the city during the monsoon season. However, these potholes continued to reappear throughout the season, triggering significant public backlash.
| Photo Credit:
K. MURALI KUMAR

As if these problems were not enough, tree-fall incidents claimed four lives in the city, while stray dogs and poor road stretches claimed one life each and left several others injured. Sadly, none of these issues received sustained attention from the civic authority, whose primary focus remained on ensuring a smooth ‘transition phase’ from a single corporation to five civic bodies.

Roads and potholes

According to the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) data, civic bodies filled around 22,000 potholes in the city during the monsoon season. However, these potholes continued to reappear throughout the season, triggering significant public backlash.

The issue escalated further when a logistics firm announced its decision to exit the Outer Ring Road (ORR). The debate intensified after business leaders such as Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Mohandas Pai joined the conversation. A BMTC bus breakdown on the Outer Ring Road exposed years of negligence and poor planning in the expansion of east Bengaluru.

The civic authority’s response was limited to quick fixes, which neither lasted nor addressed root causes. Amid threats to the city’s green cover, asphalting works were carried out without leaving soil space for trees, an issue that experts say contributes to tree-falls. According to the data, Bengaluru recorded 1,200 tree-falls this year, the highest in a single year, and over 2,100 incidents of tree branches snapping.

Delayed J.C. Road white-topping works triggered traffic chaos and affected businesses along the one-kilometre stretch. A similar situation unfolded when the civic body undertook white-topping work on Panathur Road. Delays on the stretch caused chaos at the Marathahalli junction, left HAL Airport Road choked, extended peak hours significantly, and frustrated commuters.

While roads remained a major concern, footpath encroachment drives largely resulted in public backlash over ‘illegal’ evictions. While hawkers were targeted, garbage and debris clearance on footpaths remained unchanged. To address this, the Bengaluru Solid Waste Management Limited altered waste collection timings and intensified the collection of fines. The agency also piloted a waste collection kiosk in Adugodi, which has remained non-operational for most parts of the day.

Stray dog menace

Seetappa, a 68-year-old man was mauled to death by stray dogs. The highest number of dog-bite incidents was recorded in 2023, with cases crossing the 25,000 mark. Although ambitious and widely praised stray dog feeding and microchipping projects were announced, they didn’t get attention from the newly formed corporations.