Shoddy workmanship exposes motorists on Bogadi-Gaddige Road to danger

Mysuru: Not taking projects to their logistical conclusion appears to have become the bane of the civic agencies in the city. As was the case with the straightening of the Hunsur Road stretch, plans for which were altered at alarming frequencies before it was subsequently completed, the project to widen the stretch of Bogadi-Gaddige Road between Manasagothri, the University of Mysore (UOM) postgraduate campus, and the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH), has been hanging fire after the first phase of the project was completed.
While the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) has completed widening the road into a four-lane street till the UoM’s postgraduate campus, the stretch between Manasagangothri and AIISH has been dug up, making travel on it a treacherous exercise. What is worse, the lack of streetlights along this stretch makes it doubly dangerous to travel at night.

Work on the road commenced towards the end of October last year. The road from Manasagangothri to AIISH lies in a shambles largely because the massive mounds of mud that have been dumped on one side, which tower next to trench that have been left open. Motorists and other road users are none too pleased with the MCC for its failure to leave the job unfinished, and exposing them to danger.

Although MCC erected boards denoting ‘work in progress’ and advising motorists to be cautious while travelling, citizens point out that these boards are not of much use while travelling at night. The civic agency’s decision to shift the electricity poles owing to work on the road has further aggravated the situation. Consequently, the stretch from the AIISH campus to the Regional institute of Education (RIE) junction has turned into a danger zone.

Repeated entreaties from AIISH officials to the civic agencies to install streetlights near the campus have been to no avail. Students at Manasagangothri, Sri Jaychamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) and AIISH are among those adversely affected by the pitiable condition of the stretch.

Pavan Kumar, a postgraduate student at UoM, recalled, with visible horror, how he escaped tumbling into the trench by a whisker. “The road is surrounded by many educational institutions and the civic agencies must be doubly careful to ensure there is no scope for accidents. Boards need to be put warning us of the dangers, and a retaining wall must be constructed,” he told TOI.

Ramesh, 61, a resident of Martikyatanahalli in Bogadi, rued the additional time he was forced to spend travelling back home because of the pathetic condition of the road. “I have to be very careful while using this road, and it eats up a lot of my time. There are no sign boards after the Manasagangothri campus, and the road has been dug up in a shoddy manner,” he said.

MCC commissioner KH Jagadeesh told TOI, “Work on the project has been delayed owing to the demolition, and subsequent reconstruction of a wall between Manasagangothri and the RIE junction. The contractors responsible for executing the project must place sign boards, and take necessary precautions before digging up the roads. MCC will direct them to do the needful, and will ensure that such incidents do not recur.”