The Hindu : Suburban roads in a state of neglect

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Suburban roads in a state of neglect

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE July 24. The Karnataka Chief Minister, S. M. Krishna, who responded to the outburst of the Wipro Chairman, Azim Premji, about the appalling state of the Sarjapur Road here, seems to have forgotten his commitment to the people of a suburban area two years ago.

Mr. Krishna announced in December 2001 that he would sanction Rs. 25 lakhs to repair the road leading to M.V.J. College of Engineering, near Whitefield. But the condition of the stretch of road from Hope Farm junction to Channasandra has only worsened. "We are finding it difficult to reach our college in time and intact," say students. One look at the road is enough to understand their plight.

Huge potholes ensure a bumpy and backbreaking ride for over 2,000 students everyday. Nearly 100 of them have sent a signed petition to the authorities concerned. Although the students have made several pleas to the Mahadevapura City Municipal Council, under whose jurisdiction the road falls, this has not yielded any result. The college is in the vicinity of the Sri Sathya Sai Ashram and the Information Technology Park Ltd. (ITPL). But the road leading to it reflects the utter neglect by the authorities concerned. The students say some of the potholes are 15 inches deep.

Vehicles take 10 minutes to cover half a kilometre. Rains in the past few days have made the problem worse. Vehicles break down frequently and flat tyres are common. Thousands of heavy vehicles plying on the road only help to worsen the state of the road.

The students are now pinning their hopes on the Chief Minister. They hope that Mr. Krishna, who has so far focused on widening roads and construction of flyovers on a particular corridor in Bangalore, looks beyond the software industry.

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