Bengaluru’s pothole woes deepen despite Rs 12 crore spend, 63% rise in affected areas
Bengaluru: Despite spending over Rs 12 crore on road repairs in 2024-25, Bengaluru’s pothole problem has worsened, with a 63% rise in the area affected by potholes compared to last year, raising serious concerns over the quality and sustainability of civic works.
According to BBMP data presented by the government in the Karnataka Legislative Council, cited by Deccan Herald on Tuesday, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) filled up 1.78 lakh square metres of potholes in 2024–25, compared to 1.07 lakh square metres in 2023–24. This represents a 63% increase, despite a significant jump in expenditure from Rs 7 crore last year to Rs 12.25 crore this year.
However, many commuters argue that the increased spending has not translated into lasting results.
“We did see BBMP taking up pothole filling works. However, just a few weeks later, we noticed that the same roads have again developed potholes. If the road is back in the same shape within a few days, this is a waste of effort and taxpayer's money,” DH quoted Murthy B, a resident of Mahadevapura zone, as saying.
Other citizens pointed to roads like Hosa Road and Bannerghatta Road, where potholes reappeared just months after BBMP carried out patchwork repairs.
A senior BBMP engineer, speaking to DH on condition of anonymity, mentioned that BBMP was only filling potholes and not addressing the root cause. “The potholes don't appear on any road. They develop only when water stagnates on roads. This is because of poorly maintained shoulder drains due to which water enters and stagnates on roads,” the engineer said.
BBMP Chief Commissioner Maheshwar Rao acknowledged the limitations of pothole repair work during the monsoon season. “We can only take up temporary fixes owing to rain. Hence, they might reappear. However, long-term measures will be taken after the monsoon,” Rao assured.
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Robert Duvall, Oscar-winning actor and 'Godfather' mainstay, dead at 95
Los Angeles (AP): Robert Duvall, the Oscar-winning actor of matchless versatility and dedication whose classic roles included the intrepid consigliere of the first two "Godfather" movies and the over-the-hill country music singer in "Tender Mercies," has died at age 95.
Duvall died “peacefully” at his home Sunday in Middleburg, Virginia, according to an announcement from his publicist and from a statement posted on his Facebook page by his wife, Luciana Duvall.
“To the world, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, a director, a storyteller. To me, he was simply everything,” Luciana Duvall wrote. “His passion for his craft was matched only by his deep love for characters, a great meal, and holding court. For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented."
The bald, wiry Duvall didn't have leading man looks, but few "character actors" enjoyed such a long, rewarding and unpredictable career, in leading and supporting roles, from an itinerant preacher to Josef Stalin.
Beginning with his 1962 film debut as Boo Radley, the reclusive neighbor in "To Kill a Mockingbird," Duvall created a gallery of unforgettable portrayals.
They earned him seven Academy Award nominations and the best actor prize for "Tender Mercies," which came out in 1983. He also won four Golden Globes, including one for playing the philosophical cattle-drive boss in the 1989 miniseries "Lonesome Dove," a role he often cited as his favorite.
In 2005, Duvall was awarded a National Medal of Arts.
He had been acting for some 20 years when "The Godfather," released in 1972, established him as one of the most in-demand performers of Hollywood. He had made a previous film, "The Rain People," with Francis Coppola, and the director chose him to play Tom Hagen in the mafia epic that featured Al Pacino and Marlon Brando among others.
Duvall was a master of subtlety as an Irishman among Italians, rarely at the centre of a scene, but often listening and advising in the background, an irreplaceable thread through the saga of the Corleone crime family.
“Stars and Italians alike depend on his efficiency, his tidying up around their grand gestures, his being the perfect shortstop on a team of personality sluggers,” wrote the critic David Thomson. “Was there ever a role better designed for its actor than that of Tom Hagen in both parts of The Godfather?'”
In another Coppola film, "Apocalypse Now," Duvall was wildly out front, the embodiment of deranged masculinity as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore, who with equal vigour enjoyed surfing and bombing raids on the Viet Cong. Duvall required few takes for one of the most famous passages in movie history, barked out on the battlefield by a bare-chested, cavalry-hatted Kilgore: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. You know, one time we had a hill bombed, for 12 hours. When it was all over, I walked up. We didn't find one of em, not one stinkin' dink body.
"The smell, you know that gasoline smell, the whole hill. Smelled like — victory.”
Coppola once commented about Duvall: "Actors click into character at different times — the first week, third week. Bobby's hot after one or two takes."
