It is monsoon and rains intermittently, making roadworks difficult.  Much money has been allocated to repairing the roads, which are full of potholes, in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Banglaore.  Within the last 24 hours, 4 people have been killed on the roads as a result of the potholes, sending people off their scooters and cars off balance.  Traffic grinds down, and it is sheer determination of people to go to their work, take children to school or return home that makes them carry out these bumpy, back-arching journeys.  Just to see the roads on NDTV and their representative coverage of this situation makes people cringe.

 

There is no clarity as to who is responsible for keeping the roads up to date.  The local people have given up on the politicians and councillors, whose job it is to organise the repairs and point them out to the relevant municipal authorities, but confusion over which patch it is, whose jurisdiction it is, who is responsible and so on leaves a poor impression.  Just how do the politicians and councillors and the road works departments liaise and co-ordinate is a fool's blessing. 

 

Of course there is a lot that can be done to rectify the situation, and ensure the traffic moves at a normal pace, saving people time and frustration.  This would surely add to the economic growth?  Time is money, and a satisfied people can enjoy the finer things in life than being regularly trapped on the bouncy journeys. 

 

It is time clear maps were drawn for people to know who is responsible for road maintainaince on each patch, and then for the teams responsible to get the work done of filling the potholes.  It may not be the best plan to fill them all in a short while of say 48 hours, but rather to fill in a few roads each day when the weather permits so that the job is well done and the filling solidifies and takes hold and lasts longer.  Attention to this problem of repairing the potholes will do Indian cities a lot of good, and the people proud.  Those who are in charge must ensure they don't let the people down.  Travel on Indian roads ought to be safe and comfort and free of stress as possible.  That's something to achieve.

 

Kind regards,

Duru-darshan.