The Hindu : Karnataka News : Those potholes and gravel? That was our road

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Wednesday, Jul 04, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Those potholes and gravel? That was our road

Raviprasad Kamila

When the rain batters down, the roads in Mangalore city seem to crumble instantaneously

— Photo : R_Eswarraj

Death trap: The road from Hampankatta Signal leading to the Deputy Commissioner’s office in Mangalore is in a very bad shape.

Come monsoon and driving in Hampankatta, the heart of our city, turns into a nightmare. Not just for drivers but also pedestrians using the footpath skirting the compound wall of the Government Wenlock Hospital. Like an annual occultation, there it appears, that humongous pothole just after the Hampankatta Circle towards the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Vehicles judder over this monster, the size of a modest bathtub, splashing fellow vehicles and hapless pedestrians with muddy water.

“I have been seeing this pothole lying unattended to by the City Corporation authorities every monsoon at least for the past five years,” says M. Sharief, a tutor at a driving school at Ballalbagh. “Drivers of four-wheelers can’t avoid this pothole as there is no space on the road as on one side there is median and the other side is the footpath.”

Monsoon potholes

According to Mr. Sharief, this is one of the permanent “monsoon potholes” of the city. In fact, this pothole is a great leveller. Everybody — be they a clerk or an accountant or a mandarin or a minister — has to wait for their turn to negotiate it, especially while driving from Falnir Road and Jyothi Circle as the traffic creeps along at the Hampankatta signal. When it rains, there are instances of two-wheeler riders unfamiliar with this trap losing their balance and falling into the pothole.

It is not only in this arterial road that potholes abound. The main roads in front of Kankanady bus stand and at Balmata and a portion of PVS Circle road and the road in front of Canara College are some of the other permanent victims of the monsoon. And the authorities seem to be unbothered about the multiple potholes at Balmata and Kankanady which lie unattended to during monsoon.

“Those who drive four-wheelers can somehow manage at Balmata and Kankanady. But not those who drive two-wheelers who lose balance easily,” says Kishore Kumar, a teacher at a pre-university college.

Another main road from PVS Circle to Kotta Chowki is a concrete road. “One can drive comfortably on this road. But at Kottara (road leading from Mangalore to Udupi) and at Chilimbi (Udupi to Mangalore) the road accumulates silt as mud water from higher areas flows on to it. Even though the road has storm water drains on both sides, at some places there is no outlet for the water to flow into the drain. This needs to be attended by the authorities concerned,” said D. Prashanth, a marketing executive who works at PVS Circle.

It is not just the monsoon that is ruining the city’s roads. When a builder began construction activity adjacent to the Karnad Sadashiva Rao Road in summer, some of the excavated earth was carelessly spilled over on this otherwise good road. The accumulated mud rendered the road uneven and now it is a mess when it rains, turning into a slippery morass. Matters are compounded when mud flows to main road from the construction site when it rains heavily.

The Wharf Road leading to the old bunder area is another road that suffers during every monsoon. The pothole parade continues on the road in front of Kodiyalabail market due to accumulation of water.

The monsoon-ravaged road crumbles under the battering, and spreading gravel, posing more danger to motorists.

It is not just roads that disintegrate thus. The new road humps laid using bitumen and gravel just a month ago at Kottara, at M.G. Road near TMA Pai International Centre, and at Urwa Stores have fallen apart following the monsoon, spreading gravel in their vicinity.

Road humps

When the authorities laid new road humps at these places and at Mannagudda a month ago they did not bother to paint them.

The humps were laid unscientifically. Police had to put up metal barricades for some days to caution drivers, said a traffic police constable. Even after a month, road humps at Mannagudda have not been painted, he said.

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