Is the pathetic condition of the city roads responsible for pushing up the number of fatalities due to road mishaps?
2 days ago, a woman was killed when the auto-rickshaw in which she was travelling toppled over after one of its tyre landed in a pothole.
Other accidents have been reported from across the city which have been attributed in some way or the other to potholes, silt from these craters on the roads or similar reasons.
According to figures quoted by Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) for Traffic CV Anand, the number of accidents in which one or more persons died has already crossed 400 by September end. This is in sharp contrast to the 481 accidents during 2009 and the 518 road mishaps in 2008.
The city roads continue to be in the worst possible shape, even after Chief Minister K Rosaiah had directed the Roads and Buildings department to take up repair works and had sanctioned Rs. 32 crores for the purpose on September 26th.
Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) officials had then urged Rosaiah to sanction an additional Rs. 50 crores for road repairs.
2 weeks ago, Road and Building Minister G Aruna Kumari had promised that all the damaged roads under GHMC limits would be repaired soon. She had revealed that the State Government had already released Rs. 12.81 crores to R&B dept for taking up repairs of road spread over a stretch of 14.61 kms in the city.
According to figures available with the R&B Departments, Rs. 30 crores has been sanctioned by it for repairs or recarpeting of the roads.
R&B officials revealed that another instalment of Rs. 18.30 crores would be released soon for the repair works on the 250 kms length of roads it maintains within GHMC limits.
According to figures quoted by R&B officials, around 43 kms of the city roads have been badly damaged while around 100 kms have been pockmarked with potholes.
The officials claim that incessant rains this year have battered the roads and say that now that the rains have stopped, repair work has already begun.
These words will undoubtedly provide relief to commuters, but for those who lost their loved ones to the accidents due to bad roads,these measures are being taken too late.