Hyderabad: If the arterial roads are in a pathetic state, the condition of roads connecting the highways is worse. Commuters get a bone-rattling welcome as they enter the capital via the roads, and their journey leaving the city is equally painful.
Mammoth potholes mark the roads leading to the Vijayawada, Nagpur, Mumbai, Warangal and Bengaluru national highways. But, then, these are roads that the common people use and don’t seem to be on the A list of officials.
What is surprising that the Rajiv Rahadari leading to Karimnagar, which leads to the Assembly constituencies of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, as well as his farmhouse, and those of ministers K.T. Rama Rao and T. Harish Rao, has also not been repaired for months.
The officials blame the road damage on the incessant rains.
Sharing his experience of riding on the roads connecting the highways, Mr K. Ravie Kumar, a private company employee, who commutes to his office in SD Road in Secunderabad daily, said the potholes at the Jubilee Bus Station road were deep enough to resemble borewells.
He said that the potholes were so huge that they could easily engulf heavy vehicles. Mr Kumar said matters turn worse when it rains. Motorists desperately attempt to avoid going into the potholes and brush against other vehicles in the process.
“At first, I thought the roads were maintained by the GHMC or the SCB but I was shocked learn that state highway department has been maintaining them. The department does not even have a forum to complain. Grievances raised over social media handles are ignored by the authorities,” he said.
Commuters residing in Narapally, Medipally and Ghatkesar said the construction of the elevated corridor has badly damaged the roads since a year.
Mr Bharath Kumar said that commuting to his office in the city from Ghatkesar has become a nightmare. Due to the incessant rainfall, especially this month, the entire stretch is covered with sludge which makes
it difficult to ride a two-wheeler.
“Though numerous complaints were lodged with the authorities none of them bothered to respond and fix the roads,” he added.
The situation is similar on the Bengaluru highway where the road has been severely damaged from Chandrayangutta to the Aramghar crossroads.
The road near Bahadurpura is also in bad shape.
National and state highways engineer-in-chief, Ganapathi Reddy, said that the department had been repairing roads leading to NH 65, and the remaining roads will be fixed once dry conditions return.
He said that due to the ongoing work on the Uppal-Ghatkesar elevated corridor. the department can only undertake need-based maintenance until its completion. Mr Ganapathi Reddy said that bitumen topping could not be done when the work was going on. The elevated corridors work will take at least one year’s time.
