Face of Ooty in appalling state

The main Commercial Road in this hill station is now in an appalling state, thanks to the callous manner in which a scheme to lay telephone cables was recently implemented.

Trenches

With the trenches dug along the side of the road and through the pedestrian walks to lay the cables being covered very crudely, the road has not only become an eyesore but also turned out to be extremely dangerous for pedestrians.

Though the careless job has drawn flak from both the local people and tourists, nothing tangible has been done so far to set right the matters. Consequently, pedestrians are forced to walk on the road.

Maintenance

Official sources told

The Hindu that since the road was being maintained by the Highways Department, only its workers could do the repair works.

Meanwhile, residents here opined that if there had been proper coordination among the departments concerned and if supervision had been effective, the cable laying works could have been carried out without causing much inconvenience to the public.

Pointing out that this vacation destination has for long been described as a ‘one-road town’, they said that the reference was to the Commercial Road, which slices through the town, and lamented that even such a road, promoted as the face of the hill station, was now in a state of neglect.