Roads and Rains

The last two days have been a discovery of sorts for the media in Hyderabad. Though they report on civic issues, most of city newspapers tend to gloss over issues which they feel has been written about already or have been reported by a rival newspaper. But the sight of hundreds of vehicles crawling along the main thoroughfares has prodded a plethora of stories, some of them starting right off the front pages.

The media reports do indicate the pathetic state of roads in the city, something which even I had not seen for a long, long time. The beautiful, largely pothole free roads which we held up as an example of happening Hyderabad has now gone down the drain or for the lack of it, literally.

Take the sorry state of the road between the CTO (Paradise) and the Parade ground flyovers. Even a army tank will find it tough to traverse what used to be a road. Over the past fifteen days, flooding on this road has taken away most of bitumen and in its place we have a mud track which can test the strongest of bones. What the GHMC will now do is predictable. They will do a pothole filling exercise which will give away after another round of rains. The malaise is beyond that, and shows how the civic authorities care two hoots for the citizens.

The problem with this 200 meter stretch road is to do with water that flows down both the flyovers, and from the adjoining roads. A perfectly fine natural drain system has been destroyed by a slew of buildings – Cormonadel House, Hippo Petrol Bunk, TSR building, ITC Bhadrachalam and Surya Towers. All these buildings have ensured that the water from rain drains out onto the road and does not enter into their premises.

The Hippo Petrol Bunk is case in point. It has been renovated a year ago and stands a good three feet off the road level. That leaves no scope for water to go and it gets stuck where it is. The water gushing from Deendayal lane and the Nanking road also flows into the cesspool. Technically, there needs to be three or four storm water drains that can take in this overflow. The problem is that the drains which used to exist near the Raja Deendayal Studio and the Old Plaza theatre have gone under the foundations of the buildings that have come up. So like a river which has been dammed up, the water has nowhere to go. To make matters worse, the roads have been laid with little attention to allow the flow of water into the area around Gymkhana grounds.

The same story is repeated in other places in the city and the list will run into hundreds, if not thousands. The statement of Traffic Commissioner that GHMC and Traffic Police have identified bad roads in the city, and they will be repaired after two months. Mr Kaumudi, do you expect the citizens to drive on these mud tracks for the next two months. Have you spent hours in a traffic jam while you were trying to get to work or catch a flight ? Have you spent hours waiting for your kid’s school bus to turn up while it is stuck in a jam ?

Get real, Mr Sarma and Mr Kaumudi. We need action and we need it now. Not two months later.