Karnataka - Mangalore   

Heavy rains add to woes of motorists in Mangalore

Special Correspondent

Waterlogged roads make driving hazardous

SPLASHING THEIR WAY: The waterlogged A.B. Shetty Circle is a driver's nightmare.

MANGALORE: With the monsoon intensifying in the district, traffic management in the city is in a shambles. Thanks to clogged drains, roads are waterlogged while the road surface beneath knee-deep waters is riddled with potholes.

One can only imagine driving in such conditions. As the potholes are not visible owing to inundated roads, there is the danger that vehicles may get struck in the potholes.

In some places inside the city, trenches give drivers a harrowing time.

In fact, the Mangalore City Corporation issued a notice well before the monsoon began in the district that no road should be dug. But it appears that this order is directed only at those law-abiding citizens who wish to take a water connection after paying the full amount.

But many telecom companies, which have got the roads dug, have not cared to fill the trenches. As a result, loose soil, which is washed off by the rain, gets accumulated inside the drains and clogs them.

Though the corporation has deployed its men at many places along with the required machinery to ensure that water does not get accumulated on the roads, work has been proceeding at a sluggish rate. As a result, the drains are still clogged at many places.

The Chairman of the Standing Committee on Health, Kamalaksha Kundar, who issued notices to petty shops directing them not to throw tender coconut shells into the open drains, said the move has failed to elicit any response from the shopkeepers.

He told The Hindu that it is impossible for the corporation to keep an eye on the 3,000 petty shops in the city. Though the corporation has slapped fines on some shopkeepers, that is all it can do, he said.

With the monsoon expected to last another 45 days, motorists and pedestrians in the city are dreading the idea of using the roads as they are unable to fathom what is in store for them.

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