With roads getting damaged due to heavy rain in Udupi city, some well-meaning citizens have taken upon themselves the job of doing temporary repairs in the face of the lackadaisical response from the authorities concerned.
Since the road at Beedinagudde, which was recently asphalted, got damaged in rain, two citizens, Vigneshwar Bhat and Krishna Prasad, on Monday, undertook temporary patch-up of the road with about 60 baskets full of jelly and mud to fill a large crater that had appeared on the road.
Both Bhat and Prasad ferry children in their vans to schools in the city. Bhat had brought the bad condition of the road to the notice of Udupi City Municipal Council president Meenakshi Bannanje. But quick action was not forthcoming.
“We ferry children daily in our vans to schools. Driving on the road had become difficult due to the pothole. We have seen many two-wheeler drivers struggle. Hence, we decided to fill the pothole,” said Bhat.
“We have seen three accidents take place on the stretch. Hence, we decided to do something that is beneficial not only to us but also other road users,” said Prasad.
Ingenious in their thinking, they used the jelly which had come out due to the damage caused to the asphalted portion of the road. They collected the soil from nearby and mixed both to fill the pothole and cleared a roadside drain nearby so that water-logging did not destroy the road.
“The problem could have been solved if a concrete storm-water drain had been built till the bridge. Instead, the work was stopped halfway,” said Bhat.
Bus gets stuck
Meanwhile, the wheels of an empty school bus belonging got stuck in the slushy mud, after the bridge.
“Soil should be put in a compact manner on either sides of the road from the bridge wherever needed or else buses would get stuck in slushy soil,” said Bhat.
Ronald Fernandes, driver of the school bus, said that he veered his bus to the left to give way to another bus coming from the opposite direction. “My bus got stuck in slushy mud. The municipal council should construct road guards at the spot,” he said. The bus was later pulled out.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bannanje said that she would take municipal engineers to the Beedinagudde-Sharada Mantapa Road on Tuesday and take remedial measures.
