No gimmicks, please.We need roads that last long

No gimmicks, please.We need roads that last long
H S Balram
The Times of India

Bangaloreans, hit hard by bad roads and traffic jams, are smiling these days. No, the city’s infrastructure hasn’t improved overnight. Neither has Deve Gowda stopped his IT-bashing. The city corporation has announced a ‘spot the pothole’ contest. Reward: Rs 100 per pothole. Not just this. The money will be deducted from the area engineer’s salary. Can you believe it? A windfall for citizens, considering the state of the city’s roads. But there is a catch. The contest will begin only after a week or two, by which time the corporation hopes to rid the roads of potholes.

But the citizens are taking it with a pinch of salt. Similar exercises in the past failed to usher in the desired results. Potholes resurfaced after one downpour. Contractors who did a shabby job were allowed to go scotfree. Engineers who were hand in glove with them eluded punishment. This time too, work has started on a feverish pitch. Mud and bitumen are thrown into each pothole. No check on quality. Levelling is poor. So, instead of potholes, motorists have to negotiate humps.

Gimmicks like reward for spotting potholes do not work. At best they add a comic touch to a depressing situation. The corporation will do well to pick efficient engineers and reliable contractors to make the city roads motorable. It should also take the help of resident welfare associations to keep tabs on quality. Provide them the norms that need to be followed. Take stern action against erring officials. Blacklist inefficient contractors. A road built according to prescribed guidelines will not break for years. Sadly, the contractor-official nexus ensures that this is not done, so that it can drain the corporation of precious public funds in the name of maintenance.

The Lok Ayukta has time and again exposed this nexus. Once it found that many roads had been relaid several times, only on paper. And some roads didn’t exist, but documents showed that lakhs of rupees had been spent on their maintenance. Corrupt officials in connivance with unscrupulous contractors had pocketed taxpayers’ money. A few weeks ago, two senior officials involved in roads maintenance were found to have amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income. How can one expect the condition of roads to improve in such a situation? The irony is that many such officials, after being under suspension for a while, are back at their posts and to their corrupt ways.

Bangalore needs good roads to withstand the growing traffic. The government has been inviting top companies from all over the world to invest and set up shop in Bangalore. They are coming in hordes. Isn’t it the job of the city corporation to provide basic amenities? A city is judged by the quality of its roads.

Children too fed up
When IT companies raised their voice against poor infrastructure in Bangalore, those at the helm scoffed at them. When citizens protested against bad roads and clogged drains, empty promises were made to them. Now, children have come out with a report card on city’s roads, traffic chaos and accidents. Bad roads top the list followed by too many private vehicles, traffic violations, too few policemen, erratic BMTC buses and autorickshaws, and lack of footpaths for pedestrians. Will anyone in the government or the corporation give a convincing assurance to these children?