The 2-km PWD road stretching from IMG Junction to Infopark has emerged as the butt of joke among regular motorists along the route with a local meme group, Troll Kakkanad, even bringing out memes on the potholes-littered road.
One such meme sarcastically warns motorists, “a great collection of potholes are waiting for your inevitable fall” after getting caught in one of those holes.
“Some of the biggest holes on the stretch are near a mosque and Kusumagiri Hospital, not to mention the string of holes of varying sizes up till Infopark. Many of these were temporarily filled using sand only for them to re-emerge after the recent downpour,” said Ajith Moncy, the young admin of Troll Kakkanad and a regular motorist along the road.
Santhosh Melekkalathil, a techie at Infopark, said that unsuspecting motorists unfamiliar with the stretch could be caught unawares, especially during rain as the water-filled holes could prove deceptive and dangerous, mostly for two-wheeler riders.
That the road was freshly surfaced around nine months ago following consistent protests by Progressive Techies (PT) makes its present condition even more deplorable. “Since it is a very busy stretch, high-quality standards should have been maintained in its repairs,” said Aneesh Panthalani, president of the PT.
Traffic along the stretch is relatively low at present since most offices in Infopark have switched to remote working mode, leaving the delivery boys of online food aggregates the most vulnerable lot.
“Once the normal traffic is restored, manoeuvring through this road with little space to avert holes could prove a tough task,” said Clint Paul, a techie who recently shifted to the office in Infopark and had a hard time negotiating through the road on Monday night.
PWD sources claimed that the stretch was not as bad as it was made out to be and blamed inundation owing to lack of drainage facilities as the reason why it was perpetually in disrepair. “We have already submitted a proposal to resurface the road complete with drainage,” said a senior PWD official who also claimed that patchworks were being done constantly.