After Scooter Rider & a Child Fell into Incomplete Drainage, on Kadri Road, Opposite to Natural Ice Cream Parlour-Still No Action from Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) Officials
Mangaluru: I have said it in the past and will say it again that “One thing for sure, that you’ll all agree with me is that-Digging of roads/streets/bye-lanes/and for drainage work will never stop in Mangaluru no matter what- and we have seen it and will see in future too. Without proper planning new roads are constructed, and after a while, the new roads are dug to lay cables- and side of roads dug up for drainage work- and this is the present case where almost the entire city is in a mess with all the development work which was pending due to the MCC elections- and now ALL the pending works are started together, and the bad part is ALL of them are left incomplete (almost in many areas?)
Narrating about the Smart City, the website of Mangaluru Smart City Limited states- The Smart Cities Mission of the Government is a bold, new initiative. It is meant to set examples that can be replicated both within and outside the Smart City, catalyzing the creation of similar Smart Cities in various regions and parts of the country. The first question is what is meant by a ‘smart city’. There is no universally accepted definition of a smart city. It means different things to different people. To provide for the aspirations and needs of the citizens, urban planners ideally aim at developing the entire urban eco-system, which is represented by the four pillars of comprehensive development-institutional, physical, social and economic infrastructure. This can be a long term goal and cities can work towards developing such comprehensive infrastructure incrementally, adding on layers of ‘smartness’. In the approach of the Smart Cities Mission, the objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions.
Okay, even though it is well said in their website, but in reality, the projects undertaken by MSCL don’t meet the standards and to the satisfaction of the citizens. Projects undertaken by MSCL are not done the right way or delayed for a long time, and with some projects left half done. Here is an example- Even after Team Mangalorean had published an article on 3 December 2019 (Ref: It’s Not Smart to Start ALL Development Works Together & Leave them ALL Incomplete?). And even after this article link was sent to the concerned officials, and few calls were made to rectify the issues, but all our efforts are in vain. As of today, it’s still a mess out there, and traffic and pedestrians are facing the brunt of it. The digging work can be seen across the City, and pedestrians are having a tough time to walk on the footpaths or cross the roads, while the motorists are facing all kind of inconveniences of closed roads, temporary one-way streets, barricades etc. There are interlock bricks scattered all over and dug up mud is blocking pedestrians movement.
And one drainage project which is left incomplete since 2-3 weeks, even though the work was started over a month ago, is on Kadri Road, opposite Natural Ice Cream shack- and it is the vicinity where I live and many other residents- and every one of us have been put into hardship and inconveniences while moving around this incomplete project. A few days ago a school going child fell into the open ditch/drainage while running to catch the school bus- and yesterday evening a scooter rider while making a turn near an incomplete drain, lost balance- and both he and his scooter fell into the ditch- bit luckily in both the cases, the injuries were minor. But it seems like the MSCL officials are waiting for casualty/fatality to take place, and probably only then they will start the work again and finish it. Bah humbug!
You can see protruding rods, which are a safety concern for the pedestrians walking next to this drainage project. Also, quite a few open pits are left unattended, and chances are someone may fall into them after dark. The area is in total disaster-with piles of mud, rocks, and what not scattered all around- and commuters and motorists are facing the brunt of it. God only knows when the work will restart, and when the project will be completed. But does anyone from MSCL care about the safety of the Citizens, being Smart Officials of Smart City? Until all the city development works undertaken by MCC or Mangaluru Smarty City Ltd is fully completed, pedestrians and motorists have to bear with all these inconveniences and also there would be traffic snarls which will be an added nightmare. But why all these drainage work was taken up together? Though this question sounds jocular and funny it is rather a serious one!
The reason because perhaps no one in Mangaluru is fully aware of which roads are/will be dug and for what reason-Saying so from my observation since months and years!. There is no one to take the complete responsibility of digging up the roads. Instead of fully completing one work at one area first, they jump to another project, leaving the earlier project incomplete for a while or maybe never? Seems like in this Smart City with Smart Engineers and Contractors they can do anything anytime, nobody has the guts to question them. One thing for sure, digging never stops in Mangaluru, every now and then. First it was for optic cables, then it was for water pipes, then sewage/drainage, then MESCOM, etc,
It’s not just nowadays. It is a trend for decades. With no accountability of any sort, anybody with political clout and money to bribe can dig a road with no questions asked. And now with drainage and road reconstruction works going on, moving around the City has become a nightmare- and it will be a long long time before this City gets back to its normalcy. And this report is for the kind perusal of Managing Director of MSCL- Mohammed Nazeer and General Manager of MSCL- Er Arun Prabha, where I humbly make a request to restart the Kadri Raod Drainage work and complete it before someone gets hurt or faces death. Once in a while MSCL officials need to step out of their air-conditioned office cabins and inspect/supervise the ongoing Smart City projects- if not, we will be looking at delayed work or incomplete work left fully under the contractors and labourers. Hoping for the best, in anticipation I remain thanking the concerned MSCL officials!
