It’s a death dance for motorists on roads
Potholes, patchwork make roads uneven, dangerous.
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2015-12-16 01:22 GMT
Hyderabad: Under the guise of re-carpeting roads, potholes are simply filled with a layer of tar, leaving the city roads uneven. This is being done even on flyovers and experts say that this is patch work and not recarpeting. This is being done on 1,800 km of city roads in both Greater Hyderabad and under the Secunderabad Cantonment Board jurisdiction. Patch work is evident on the West Marredpally road (in front of the Heritage and Gokul Chat restaurant), opposite Hyderabad Public School (near the first pillar from the flyover) , Begumpet flyover (the slope towards HPS), Madhapur (near Ayyappa Society lane entrance) and at parts of the Panjagutta and Ameerpet stretch.
It is the same case on the Tappachabutra road, Qutb Shahi tombs road, Karkhana and Chilkalguda near the railway overbridge. Ms Naga Divya, a resident of Prakashnagar, Begumpet said, “The uneven roads cannot be ignored as the patch works are right in the middle of the roads and we have to deal with this every day. I have lost balance many times due to the uneven layer being higher than the actual road level.”
Mr Keshav Reddy from Nampally added, “The patch work hides the manholes in the roads as they are of the same height as the manholes. Till date the Petlaburj road has not been leveled. Such works have brought down the average speed and are causing traffic jams.” Professor Laxshma Rao, head of civil engineering and transportation department, JNTU, said, “When we look at the history of city roads, recarpeting is done during VIP travel or elections. If patch work is carried out without re-strengthening, the road loses its structural stability. There is no check on the road strength, officials just learn the terminologies, brief the government about the same but don’t carry it out. Firstly an analysis should be conducted and check which layer needs to be strengthened.
“A study was conducted on a Begumpet road where it was found that the road had lost its elastic property completely; all dimensions should be checked before re-carpeting, material should be re-laid on the road like a carpet, it has to be reconstructed.”