Hyderabad: Potholed roads put motorists in peril

Hyderabad: Roads in several localities of Hyderabad are in a state of disrepair. Many stretches in the city are posing a greater risk during monsoon as large number of potholes fill up with stagnant water and leading to major accidents. Though the civic body claims to have the best machinery and equipment to repair potholes but the apathy of the engineering wing of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) causing a great deal of inconvenience to the suburbanites.

A GHMC official disclosed that a preliminary check following the heavy rains had revealed that there were more than 2 lakh potholes across the city's roads and the municipal corporation is planning to repair them. A stretch near Hafeezpet railway station under Chandanagar circle in Serilingampally zone of GHMC was paved just a few days ago but got eroded in the rains.

Syed Iftekar Ahmed, President of the Premnagar Welfare Society, said, "I see motorists tumble due to the potholes on the road almost every day during the monsoon. Recently an auto-turned turtle and the driver got badly injured due to poor condition of road. The heavy rains have worsened the situation and now the potholes are posing the risk of accidents in the area."

The potholed roads in the city have now turned into an accident-prone zone. Although the GHMC had filled some potholes, the patchwork was washed away in rains and causing difficulties to the motorists and pedestrians.

A resident from the rutted road at Santosh Nagar, said, "As the GHMC promises and showcases that it has the best machinery to repair potholes, but the civic body has completely failed to cover potholes. The engineering wing must make use of machinery provided by the government so that these potholes can be repaired properly and do not become the reason for some major accident."

Recently, GHMC's engineering wing started a project for repairing roads by using 'High Strength Fiber Patch Tape' technology. This machine has been brought from Bengaluru and is termed as 'Road Rakshak Patch' this supposed to be applied on all damaged roads and it was also announced that it would also repair the potholes in the GHMC limits. But, apart from the south zone no other zones in GHMC have this type of machinery.

A city-based social activist Mohd Minhaj, said, "Potholes are a common cause for accidents, which is why it is important to take care of them. The GHMC must utilize the engineering tools, machinery, and equipment which worth crores of rupees, instead of keeping road repairing machines for exhibition in GHMC offices or dumping it into the storeroom it should be put for proper usage."