Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s warnings ignored, potholes still haunt bikers
Despite a strict warning from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao more than a year ago to repair and cover all the potholes across the state, they continue to be death traps for the commuters.
Published: 09th July 2018 05:15 AM | Last Updated: 09th July 2018 05:15 AM | A+A A-
Motorists ride on a busy Tarnaka flyover on which a gaping pothole is present, in Hyderabad on Sunday | sathya keerthi
HYDERABAD: Despite a strict warning from Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao more than a year ago to repair and cover all the potholes across the state, they continue to be death traps for the commuters. The latest being a woman who fell down from a bike and came under a truck, after the bike landed in a pothole and skidded near Kandlakoya junction. Potholes have become a common sight to the citizens travelling even through busy stretches in the city as well.
With the monsoon at hand, the potholes can turn more fatal. Though the CM said that he would tour the State after June 1 and if he found any potholes, stringent action would be taken, it seems neither the potholes were fixed nor his travel plan materialised.
In May 2017, while travelling from Warangal to Palakurthi by road, the CM noticed several potholes. “Despite funds being allocated for laying new roads and repairing the existing ones, several roads remain damaged and full of potholes.
Henceforth, laxity on part of officials will not be forgiven,” he said during the review. However, the CM’s warning seem to go unheeded as the roads continue to be pothole-ridden.
“The potholes mainly affect the traffic flow and sometimes lead to accidents. Though it is not our duty to cover them,” a traffic official said.
GHMC claims pothole-free roads in its limits
GHMC claims that all the roads falling under their limits are pothole-free, but the problem continues in peripheral areas, where a lot of infrastructure works are going on. More than 50,000 potholes were identified and repaired from June 2017 till May 2018.
“The target now is to identify the potholes and make the number zero,” a senior official said. “In addition to the emergency teams, instant repair teams are also kept on alert for immediate response,” the official added. “To repair and cover potholes, hot BT mix material is required. As the supply is not possible during monsoon, GHMC has set up its own plant at Chudi Bazar for manufacturing the material. As and when there is a need, this plant produces and supplies the material,” he said.
