The woes of road users of Mysore Road between KIMCO Junction (BHEL) and Nayandahalli Junction, which began when Namma Metro construction was taken up, have amplified since a week with the bursting of a sewage line near BHEL.
As a consequence of damage to the sewage line and the manhole in front of KSRTC's divisional workshop, KIMCO Junction remains flooded with sewage even as pedestrians and motorists are forced to wade through the slush.
Ramakrishna, an autorickshaw driver, told The Hindu that they had to shift the autorickshaw stand, which was in front of the workshop, to another location because of flooding and stench. It is also driving customers away, he said.
Besides the severe hardship, the locality poses serious threat to public safety as the overflowing manhole is left uncovered. “Danger is lurking,” said Papanna, a regular user of the road. He wondered how the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) could remain so callous and play with people's lives.
Apart from the overflowing manhole in front of KSRTC's divisional workshop, another manhole in front of BHEL has remained in damaged state for over three months. The congested stretch of this road from Nayandahalli towards the city centre gets choked because of the continuous repair work.
BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T. Venkataraju said that the personnel will attend to the overflowing manhole on Monday. He has issued instructions to the area engineer to immediately take up the repair work.
On the manhole in front of BHEL, Mr. Venkataraju said as soon as the manhole was repaired, vehicles move on it without giving time for curing the concrete.
The manhole will be reconstructed with a new technology which does not require curing, he said.
Treacherous
Even as the junction remains flooded, the stretch of Mysore Road between BHEL and KIMCO Junction (towards the city) is abound with deep trenches, which are improperly filled. There are at least four such unattended trenches on this stretch forcing drivers to come to a dead halt before moving ahead. And these trenches are located on a very narrow stretch.
As a result, traffic gets piled up till Nayandahalli Junction. Mr. Papanna said Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL), for whose work the road has been barricaded, has paid little attention to repairing the road.
