Hyderabad: It’s the same story every year badly repaired, poorly laid and maintained roads that deteriorate completely during the monsoon months and cause unnecessary deaths of commuters for which no one is held accountable. Ch.Srinivas, a resident of Kachiguda, is the third person to die in the last four months on Hyderabad’s dangerous potholed roads. His bike skidded on a slippery road on Wednesday as the heavy downpour in the city made driving dangerous. He was heading home to Nimboliadda from his workplace in Golnaka.
The sub-standard road repair work carried out by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) is most in evidence during the monsoon months but this has not impelled the civic body to change its ways.
On July 7, 30-year-old Jadhav Sunita fell off her two-wheeler when the vehicle hit a pothole and skidded and she was crushed under a truck. On April 17, 35-year-old Vishal Nathani lost his life after his bike hit a pothole and he was crushed by an RTC bus at Narayanaguda. The civic body repaired the pothole within hours of the accident.
“Though there are many potholes in our area, the authorities have filled only this one, where the accident happened. If all these potholes are filled diligently by the authorities before it's too late, then many accidents can be avoided,” said N Nithin Kumar, a resident of Narayanguda.
This knee-jerk reaction of the GHMC is evident in the laying of the road at Shyam Karan in Ameerpet near the residence of Kansas hate-crime victim Sharth Koppu.
Due to the attention this incident got, the street got a face lift overnight as several politicians flocked here to console the parents.
Citizens have taken to Twitter demanding to know why repairs are not done before the start of the monsoon season.
According to data from Union Ministry of Roads, there were 138 deaths caused by vehicles falling into potholes in Telangana alone in 2015.
M Srinivas, who lives in Dilshuknagar, points to the general lack of maintenance of city roads that turn them into death traps. “It is pure negligence on the part of the GHMC officials,” he says.
In Monovikas Nagar in Secunderabad, road work has left the road in a pathetic condition.
Mission Bhagiratha and other underground drainage pipeline works are ongoing in the area since one-and-a-half years. Suraj Kumar who lives in Monovikas Nagar said commuting has become very difficult for the colony’s residents.
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