Digging Never Stops on City’s Newly Made Roads

Digging Never Stops on City’s Newly Made Roads

Mangaluru: Just look at every newly constructed road in the city, to name a few- in front of Urwa church, near Bendore circle, Bendorewell Road, Attavar Road, Kadri Road, Arya Samaj Road, you will find each of them dug here and there either for cable work, drainage or some other work. Only a person/persons with no brain/brains would plan and construct new roads without looking if there are any drainage, cable, utility problems that would occur in the days to come. It is really foolish to construct brand new roads, and within days dig them up at various spots to rectify drainage issues or cable faults etc etc. What kind of “Smart Engineers” or “Smart Contractors” do we have here in Kudla when the district administration/MCC is looking forward to being a “Smart City” in the nation. Not “Smart” at all?

Only if proper planning is undertaken when new roads are undertaken, all this mess would not have occurred over and over again. But what do MCC or PWD have to care? After all, its tax-payers money that is wasted again and again on these new roads. Another thing is that one should very well know that whichever road work that Mangalore City Corporation takes up is either incomplete or the work has to be re-done. They construct brand new roads without footpaths, and later when complaints pour in to build footpaths/drainage, the brand new roads are damaged and left in a pathetic condition causing hassles for motorists. Some barricades or something in the form of rocks and tree cuttings is placed around the dug area, but none have a reflector to warn motorists after dark. How careless is MCC when it comes to the safety of the citizens.

One could only think, when all this re-doing road work, means that the corporator of the particular ward, MCC officials and the contractors are minting money by taking up unnecessary construction work on roads every now and then. Why can’t they plan proper and fix the issues at the first attempt? This is like eating our hard earned money, by taking up road repair work every other month. When the roads are dug it leads to traffic congestion since debris/mud/stones are scattered, taking most of the road space. At some areas sand, jelly stones and other materials have been stored on the side of the road, taking almost half the road space which has resulted in a traffic jam during peak hours. But does anyone care, including MCC officials – absolutely no one! Which means that people must grit their teeth for a little longer before the dug up place is fixed.

When there is a pit dug right in the middle of a road, life gets a little difficult for commuters. But what if the pit is not filled properly after the work is completed? At such times, it will be hazardous for the motorists. The problem is that no one seems interested in flattening the road. With all the debris left behind and also that the dug up places are not restored properly, it seems quite dangerous for motorists and pedestrians to commute on these roads. When asked one of the officials at MCC why is that they dig for drainage problems only after the road is fully completed, the answer was-

“When we receive complaints that a drainage has been blocked we swing into action. Many of these drainage pipes have been laid in 1969, but they should have been changed, but no one did it – and now we are facing problems. Many of these pipes are made of stoneware, while drinking water pipes are made of cast iron. The pipes should have been changed to PVC by shifting them to the side of the street by constructing ducts. Unfortunately, no one thought of it and no one did it. Nothing much we can do now when drainage clog or overflow – the only solution is to dig and fix the problem”, added the official.

If that’s the case, MCC should inspect how many old and bad drainage pipes are there before concreting the road – that would be a good idea, instead of waiting for problems and then start digging. We all know that Mangalureans are quite reluctant in lodging complaints – that’s a reason we have so many civic problems that are not rectified until it leads to a serious issue, like a serious injury or death. Wake up folks, complain to the concerned authorities if you notice something hazardous to human life. Only our constant complaints and pressure on our elected officials can solve the problems. If we keep quite, we are putting our own lives in danger moving around in the flunked “Smart City”?

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