The poor condition of roads is dominating the political debate in Kerala.
For one, citizens have taken to social media in strength to bemoan the plight of pedestrians and motorists plagued by potholed roads and wrecked pavements.
Taxpayers are flooding the Internet with memes lampooning the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Public Works Department (PWD), the two agencies responsible for road upkeep.
Social media is abuzz with trolls, and memes lampooning NHAI and PWD. Potholes on the national highway at Puthukkad are being filled. Local people allege that such piecemeal work is not effective as the cracks on the road will reopen in one rain.
The poor condition of roads is dominating the political debate in Kerala. For one, citizens have taken to social media in strength to bemoan the plight of pedestrians and motorists plagued by potholed roads and wrecked pavements.
Taxpayers are flooding the Internet with memes lampooning the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and the Public Works Department (PWD), the two agencies responsible for road upkeep.
Protests
Real-life protests are also grabbing public attention. Photographs of citizens dropping fishing lines into potholes have gone viral. Residents are using foliage to indicate dangerous potholes to unsuspecting pedestrians and drivers. Two youths staged a bath in a deep pothole on a road at Pandikkad in Malappuram district.
On Monday, the State police booked NHAI authorities for criminal negligence that allegedly resulted in the death of a two-wheeler rider, Hashim, after his scooter fell into a pothole near Nedumbassery, near Kochi.
The issue reignited on Tuesday after television news channels showed NHAI contract workers emptying a bag of asphalt into a deep pothole on the busy Ernakulam-Thrissur segment. They tamped down the pitch with a shovel.
The High Court had on Monday directed the authorities to repair damaged roads within a week and District Collectors to ensure compliance with the order.
Thrissur Collector Haritha V. Kumar found the work wanting. She said it lacked technical supervision and hurried cold-mix tarring did not guarantee a solution without compaction.
War of words
Meanwhile, the debate spilled onto the political realm and seemed to take a personal turn. Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan said chronic mismanagement, entrenched corruption, bureaucratic red tape and criminal neglect had turned roads into death traps. Internal feuding in the PWD and zero coordination with the NHAI caused the crisis.
Public Works Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas hit back: “Potholes are in Mr. Satheesan’s mind”. The brutal monsoons and the NHAI’s insistence that it would undertake road repairs only after completing the under-construction sections had precipitated the situation. Kerala has 3 lakh km of roads, of which the PWD maintained only under 30,000 km.
Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan said he would flag the issue with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Delhi Political Ride
BJP says no lessons learned from accidents
The Leader of Opposition, Vijender Gupta, on Saturday alleged that the Arvind Kejriwal-led government was fully responsible for the “bad condition”
of the Capital’s roads and needed
to take immediate steps to improve
their condition.
Condoling the death of Jagdish Sukhija — a resident of Rohini who lost his life on Friday in a road accident in the Civil Lines area due to a porthole — Mr. Gupta criticized the Delhi government over the condition of roads in Delhi and argued that such casualties were taking place as “a matter of routine”.
Demand for relief
“Over 50 people died last year due to such fatal accidents. It is, however, unfortunate that the government has not learned any lesson from such accidents. I demand compensation of ₹50 lakh for the family of late Mr. Sukhija who lost his life due to the negligence of the Delhi government,” the LOP said.
Alleging that no attention was paid to regular maintenance once roads were constructed, the LOP argued that Mr. Sukhija’s life could have been saved had the government taken “timely action” in relation to the repair of the said porthole near Metcalfe House. The LOP quoted a similar incident in which a 45-year-old biker lost his life in Vasant Kunj in July. In another accident, the driver of a two-wheeler lost his life due to a water-logged porthole in Kanjhawala in August.
High-level inquiry
“I demand a high-level inquiry into the death of Mr. Sukhija and to take strict action against those found guilty. Last year, in May, a seven-year-old boy died after falling in a nullah along the road in Rani Bagh,” Mr. Gupta said.
“The major reasons for such accidents are the use of low-quality material for construction, faulty road engineering and design, non-repair of potholes in time, failure to re-carpet roads in time and incorrect design of speed breakers,” he said further.
The LOP demanded that the Delhi government conduct a thorough survey of all roads, open drains and open manholes to find out shortcomings and urgent action be taken to remove them so that “such accidents could be curbed and precious lives saved.”
