Come the South West monsoon rains, the city roads are transformed into nightmare for motorists and most of the arterial roads are left impassable, thanks to the apathy of officialdom.
Dotted with gaping potholes and cesspools of rain water, the roads and its many stretches across the city present a picture of neglect, even as the authorities looked the other way.
The simplicity reporting team, which criss- crossed the city , to find out the “bad and bedeviled” condition of arterial roads came out with the hard truth that no one stretch in the city is free from this “ monsoon illness” of damaged pothole ridden surfaces.
The blue metal get washed away rendering the roads impassable for motorists even as rains take a toll on the badly laid roads. When motorists maneuver to avoid falling into the pot holes, the vehicle skids off causing accidents and injury to the two wheeler riders, the most vulnerable section of motorists.
Roads in Gandhipuram, Dr. Nanjappa Road, Raja Street, Ganapathy and roads in the outskirts of the town such as Thudiyalur, Eachanari have all been in a battered condition posing serious inconvenience to the motorists.
“These pothole ridden roads, often are death traps, when two wheelers hit it , making the rider fall down and injure himself badly” said Ramesh a two wheeler rider who commutes to office in Gandhipuram every day.
“The City Corporation and the State Highways Department should have at least carried out patch work after the rains. But the authorities have not executed any repair works", complain the city denizens who are forced to use this deadly roads, already clogged by growing number of vehicle traffic, day after day.
"Citing the onset of upcoming North East monsoon, the City Corporation and State Highway Department have been delaying the relaying of roads. But in the normal course of things, at least patch work of damaged roads could be carried out on an emergency basis, which is not done in this case“, said a social activist.
Considering that that the city of Coimbatore has gained notoriety (300 road deaths in 2016 alone )for increasing number of road fatalities, it is high time that the authorities realize the gravity of the situation and play a proactive role in eliminating the immediate causes, which include pot holes and damaged stretches
According to Transport Research wing data, about 12,250 deaths occur annually due to damaged and pot hole- ridden roads.
While Tamilnadu tops the country in road fatalities and accounts for 14.9% of fatal accidents and about 10,000 vital lives have been lost in three years alone due to bad road conditions prevailing in the cities and towns of India.
These vital data indicate to one thing that quality roads should be laid and prior to every monsoon season the authorities should identify problematic sections of the road and relay them before they transform into gigantic potholes.
The city denizens expect that the District collector T.N. Hariharan should take stock of the situation and convene an emergency meeting of corporation and High Way officials sand order them to take up patch work in the badly damaged stretches to save the lives and prevent fatalities in the roads.
