People can now download the Fix My Street app which is set to launch by the end of November 2022.
The BBMP’s Fix My Street app is likely to launch in a couple of weeks, an official from the civic body said. The apps launch has been delayed for the last two and a half years.
B.S Prahallad, Chief Engineer (highways), BBMP, said, “Since it is raining heavily and 24,000 potholes are yet to be filled we are postponing the launch of the app for 15 days. Once the rains stop then we can work on filling the potholes”.
On the other hand, Rajesh (name changed), software engineer working on developing the app, said, “The app is not able to update data on the dashboard, which is used for detecting the active number of potholes and completed work orders.” The engineer said that the app functions in three steps- identification, approval, and revision. The revision part includes which potholes are identified and which are not . The app continues to capture the same pothole leading to multiple deductions, making it time consuming.
The app was released in 2017 for the citizens of Bengaluru to report issues on potholes and to directly connect to the ward engineers and elected representatives. It received 10,000 downloads. Even after numerous complaints lodged against the app, the authorities failed to respond to them leading to the closure of the app in 2019.
The app is currently being operated internally by the BBMP. Data from BBMP said the app recorded 30,177 cases of potholes from May 2022 to November 3, 2022. The app was set to release in the month of May 2022 but was withdrawn citing it needed major improvements.
A BBMP Engineer said that due to the various ongoing projects by other civic boards and cable companies, filling of potholes has become tough.
On the app, citizens click images of potholes which are automatically captured and geo tagged. This makes it easier for the officials to locate it.
Prof.M.N Sreehari, expert on transportation, said, “Why do people have to spot the potholes and even if they do, what is the guarantee that it will be filled?” The expert added that the BBMP should not wait for the monsoon to end to fill the potholes. They should start working on them before hand as they are educated engineers and the app will not solve all the problems.
“We are trying to make a transparent system of identification and filling of potholes as there were complaints from the citizens that there are many potholes but no transparency. Once we bring in transparency, the accountability will follow, so it will definitely reduce the pilferage and in a way, we are also controlling the government expenditure”, said B.S Prahallad.
Vinod Jacob, the manager of Namma Bengaluru Foundation, said that most of the complaints closed were just on the app and not on ground. The system should be in place and the process has to be well thought. They should also bring in lot of partnerships and city oriented NGO’s who can help them come up with solutions. The ward engineers have to be connected very well this time, otherwise it is just another app on the phone which is only taking up space on the phone.
The app mainly concentrates on resolving and reporting on the problem of potholes but other issues such as street lights and garbage can also be reported, says the official BBMP website. It can be downloaded on the play store for android users and on app store for IOS users.
