The condition of roads has gone from bad to worse even before the city has received 30 per cent of its total rainfall this monsoon. And, on the admission of the GHMC’s chief engineer, it is too late to do anything but “patchwork.” Citizens have accused the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation of being overactive when it comes to collection of taxes but doing nothing to put those taxes to work by repairing the roads.
Motorists complain that at several places the bitumen has got washed away exposing the gravel. Potholes have turned into craters and road digging is being allowed even as rains have started to lash the city. While GHMC passes the buck to the Roads and Buildings (R&B) department for the bad condition of Sardar Patel Road, the roads belonging to the civic body elsewhere in the city too are in tatters. “Only when the senior officials ride two-wheelers will they realise the back-breaking experience of driving on potholed city roads. GHMC collected over Rs 600 crore in property tax last year. When we pay taxes, we have the right to expect good roads,” said Venu Gopal, a social activist.
The condition of the road between Toli Chowki and Seven Tombs stands testimony to the official apathy. This road leads to two world famous tourist spots — Qutb Shahi Tombs and the Golconda Fort. “Numerous potholes, big craters and garbage spilling onto the road and huge drainpipes lying on either side of the carriage way greet tourists. The GHMC is presenting a bad image of the city to foreign tourists,” said Abdulla Khaiser of Toli Chowki. After two months of this, GHMC officials inspected the road and started work on Tuesday, he added.
GHMC engineer-in-chief R. Dhan Singh said, “We are taking up repairs of all damaged roads. But only patchwork is being done keeping in view the monsoon. Full-fledged repairs will be taken up after the rainy season.”