BANGALORE: Its always good to see a new road being laid, but more often than not, the happiness is short lived in Namma Bengaluru. While the rains are always welcomed, it spells a bad omen for the life span of the city roads.But for how long can we expect these newly laid road to be in the perfect condition that they are soon after asphalting? Though this question can be answered by experts, they may be baffled to see that newly laid roads in the city do not even last more than a fortnight. Thanks to poor quality of materials and lethargically re-laid roads as in the case of Suranjan Das Road.City Express had published a report, ‘Traffic jam set to become a thing of the past’ on July 25. In the report published, MLA Raghu had stated that he had been pursuing the matter with the authorities for over two years and had also vouched for the fact that it would be one of the better maintained roads of the city. Clearly, the situation speaks otherwise.This road like any other in the city had its fair share of traffic snarls during peak hours, and the thought of a better road was a welcome thought.In an attempt to ease traffic from New Thippansandra towards CV Raman Nagar, a large patch of land was acquired near the junction and asphalted to ensure smoother traffic flow, at least on one side. But the road that was laid barely a fortnight ago amidst the much fanfare, ‘bares’ the quality of work carried out here.The road has begun to peel off in many places due to the heavy rains that the city has recently witnessed. But the rains are not the sole reason.From the looks of it only half an inch of tar has been laid on this patch of road. “This only shows that our taxes are being splurged on activities that we can never find out and not on their ‘intended’ claims of development of infrastructure,” Ali, a local shopkeeper pips. He shared that the widening plans had put the entire road in a mess, with slush and potholes everywhere. “I asked the BBMP about this road, and they said that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) should complete their re-laying of water pipelines before the commencement of the widening.They may blame each other, but we are the ones suffering due to their lack of concern for the public,” a BEML factory worker said.The BBMP council approved the road widening project which would be undertaken at a proposed cost of `14.74 crore, but the BWSSB and the ‘ingenious’ engineering of digging on both sides of the road at frequent intervals, has left the pedestrian in a ‘pile of muck’.“It is humanly impossible to walk on this road. The condition is abominably questioned Naveen, a Bagmane Technology Park employee.“I take a walk from my home as it is faster than any other means of travel, but often end up with dirty clothes when I reach office as there is so much of slush and dust on this road.Speaking about the issues the MLA said that asphalting this particular stretch was only for temporary purposes.‘‘The drain work has not yet been completed. Only once it is done will the actual work of asphalting begin. At the moment this is only a temporary measure undertaken,” he said. The MLA however did not seem much bothered about the emerging potholes as he said that the condition of the road is much better than what it used to be before the stretch was asphalted.
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