Karimnagar: Bad roads battered by the recent rains are putting motorists to hardship in Karimnagar city and other places in various mandals of undivided Karimnagar district.
Potholes, stagnation of water, flying dust and overflowing drains have become a common scene in many colonies in the city. At times, these roads are also leading to accidents as the motorists are not able to gauge the depth of the potholes when there is stagnation of water.
Recently, a tractor of the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation, a private school bus and an autorickshaw got stuck in potholes on the same road in Karimnagar city. Surprisingly, instead of the roads and buildings, municipality taking up the repair works of the roads, the traffic police filled the potholes on the main road in Karimnagar city to avoid traffic snarls.
Congress leaders, under the leadership of former MP Ponnam Prabhakar, planted seedlings on the road in Vidyanagar in protest against the bad roads after the road was completely submerged in water.
At Kothaplli, on the outskirts of Karimnagar city, rains wreaked havoc and motorists found it hard to commute on the road leading to Velichala village.
The condition of roads in villages merged in the municipality is much worse. As part of the Smart City project, Arepalli, Sitarampur, Rejurthi, Padmanagar, Vallampahad and Theegalaguttapalli villages were merged with the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation.
The roads in many of these villages are not laid properly. The villagers find it almost impossible to reach their fields during monsoon.
In Yellareddypet mandal, members of the Ambedkar Chaitanya Sangham of Gollepalli village voluntarily filled a deep pothole on the Sircilla-Kamareddy road, as their repeated appeals met with silence.
BJP leader Swapna said that whenever the leaders of the Opposition parties stage dharnas and lodge complaints, officials take up some works just as an eyewash. After two or three rains, the gravel gets lose and the roads become worse to commute.
On the outskirts of the Ragudu village in Sircilla mandal, construction of a tunnel has been taken up. The sand excavated is being transported through heavy vehicles like tippers, lorries and tractors through the village due to which the road connecting Ragudu village junction to Ambedkar statue has been damaged completely, giving a tough ride to the commuters.
In Vemulawada municipality, there are a number of pits on the Thimmapur-Nampalli road. The people of Karimnagar, Warangal and Mancherial districts, who usually visit the Sri Rajarajeswara Swamy temple in Vemulawada, travel by this road. The devotees have been facing a lot of hardship due to the bad condition of the road. Many times, motorists while passing through the road ridden with potholes are skidding.
P. Sudharshan, a devotee, said, “The heavy rain and water logging have made the road worse. It took more than an hour to pass the 5-km distance.”
Six months ago, the CC road present in Divisions 1, 2, 49 and 50, under the Ramagundam Municipal Corporation, was dug out to lay an underground drainage. But the drainage has not been laid, forcing people living in that are to take alternative routes to reach their destinations.
K. Swarna Latha, a resident of Oddera Colony in Division 1, said, “Even after several appeals made by the people of our colony, the officials are being non-chalant in repairing the road. They just laid mud on the CC road that was dug up.”
