VIJAYAWADA: Commuting on city roads has become a dangerous affair as many are now riddled with potholes due to the heavy rains that have been lashing Vijayawada for the last couple of days. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) and the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department responsible for maintaining arterial roads have conveniently turned a blind eye to the situation. When Express visited various parts of the city to observe the condition of the roads after the rains, it was found that most commuters have learnt to note the location of potholes and avoid them, thanks to the civic body’s apathy.
Take for instance, the stretch of road from Kaleswara Rao Market to Ratham Centre. It’s a nightmare for motorists and pedestrians to reach the Kanaka Durga temple and Bhavanipuram. Traders in One Town and Besant Roads are at their wits’ end because many arterial roads now have developed huge potholes. Several arterial roads in One Town have not been restored after the Under Ground Drainage (UGD) works. The worst affected include major roads in One Town, Suryaraopet, Satyanarayanapuram, Besant Road, Gunadala, Auto Nagar, Patamata, Ajith Singh Nagar, Bhavanipuram, among others developed by the VMC at an estimated cost of `95 crore during Krishna Pushkarams held in August, 2016.
K Santosh, a push cart vendor on Besant Road said that several complaints to the VMC and R&B officials have gone in vain. “When we complain to the engineering department of the civic body, the engineers claim that the roads do not come under their jurisdiction. With each subdivision passing the buck, the arterial roads have been neglected in Besant Road for several years now,” said Santosh.
Besides being a threat to pedestrians, the uncovered manholes at several localities in the city are also turning into death traps for motorists as well as for stray animals. A pit dug by the telecom companies in Lurdh Nagar, Gunadala has not yet been covered. “Nobody is listening. Is the civic body waiting for some tragedy to happen?” asks Ch Manikanta, a resident of the area.
A senior official in the VMC engineering department told Express that most potholes filled last month had reappeared following the rains. Following the directions of municipal commissioner J Nivas, divisional engineers are monitoring the pothole filling in their respective divisions.