Lack of Planning by MCC, and Lack of Funds to continue work, the Uneven Pumpwell-Padil Rd to Open on Sunday, Apr 10
Mangaluru : As they say that “Life is Full of Ups and Downs”, similarly for motorists who will have to travel through 150-meter stretch of Kankanady Pumpwell – Padil Road is full of ups and downs, when it will be opened for two-way traffic coming Sunday, April 10, 2016. It should be noted that Mangaluru City Corporation took up the widening of the 150-metre stretch nearly a month ago to end frequent traffic jam at the entrance of Pumpwell junction to Padil Road- But, the sad part is that the road will remain uneven for a length of 150 metres from this Junction with one side having concrete road at higher level and another side having a tar road at lower level. This clearly shows the lack of planning of the Mangaluru City Corporation in taking up the widening of the stretch.
A month ago, when the work on this 150-m was taken up, only one -way traffic from Padil towards Pumpwell was allowed, while motorists going from Pumpwell towards Padil had to take the National Highway 75 via Nanthoor Circle and the Bikarnakatte flyover to reach Padil. According to sources from MCC, the tar road stretch would remain as it is for a while until MCC comes up with an estimation to upgrade it parallel to the stretch of concreted road. What a dumb idea one could think off, to start the work and stop unfinished. Sheer waste of tax payers money!
In the meantime, a Executive Engineer with MCC has said that the concrete road laid is 6.5 metres wide at the mouth of the junction and it was three metres wide at the other end. It has a drain and a footpath. The project has cost Rs. 50 lakh. The tar road on the other side is about 5 metres wide, and that the funds had not been made available to upgrade the tar road stretch. Hence there is no sign of taking up the balance works before monsoon. How nice, and during that long period of time we could be seeing a few accidents, since the road being a very busy one with lots of traffic plying both ways.
Gerald Towers, an activist speaking to Mangalorean.com said, ” Just wait and see, within few hours and days once the road is open, chances are that we could see few accidents. One stretch of the road being higher than the other, chances are that vehicles can roll down from the edge of concrete road, resulting in vehicle damages, personal injuries/casualties. Even if the MCC erects barricades along the stretch, they could be knocked down easily by the heavy moving traffic. This shows the lack of planning on the part of the MCC.”
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Again, I should really thank (imaginary) God for having Congress leaders in power. Otherwise, this would have certainly ended up as just another RSS-bashing case. Since Congress is in power, let’s just use the code word ‘MCC’. Great!!
Take out the parking on the tar road and allow two way traffic and only the buses on the concrete road. Bear with MCC