Journalism of Courage
Nidhi Shah was stuck in a traffic jam for half an hour when she was on her way to meet a friend in Fatima Nagar. At the end of the flyover after the Croma showroom,a tempo got its wheels stuck in a massive pothole . There was a 5m patch just after the descent of the flyover. The men who were travelling in the tempo had to get down and pull out the vehicle from the collected muck. It was an inconvenient experience, said Shah as she expressed her distress over the condition of the roads during the monsoons.
When potholes are teamed with the steep rise or descent of flyovers and connecting roads,they make a fatal combination for commuters. Vishal Gore,city-based musician,is troubled by potholes at the Viman Nagar and the Nagar Road junction. Just after Polka Dots restaurant,there is a stretch of potholes which makes it tricky for vehicles to get on to the highway of Nagar Road. Rain makes the patch slippery and the potholes add to our misery, he said.
Aparna B,a resident of Nashik Phata,says potholes in her locality are a cause for great concern. There is a huge pothole right in the middle of the road which is surrounded by other small potholes. All of them are deep. About seven to eight accidents take place here daily, said Aparna.
The dangerous stretches of potholes spread across the city are not only unsafe for riders and drivers but also for pedestrians. Nakul Patel has time and again complained to government officials about the dangers of a 50-meter spread of potholes near his residence on Karve Road but has received no reply yet. Apart from vehicles which keep skidding because of the potholes,even pedestrians tend to slip and fall because of the uneven road. Few days back an old lady who was crossing the road couldnt tackle the potholes and fell down into one of them. By the time people rushed to her rescue,she was already badly hurt, he said.
Sachin Godambe,a social activist,often takes the Dighi Road. There are crater-like potholes at the Bhosari and Dighi road junction. The potholes are so big that there is hardly any proper road left. Many complaints have been registered about this stretch but nothing has been done about it. The stretch also has no lights,which adds to the problem, said Godambe.
Prashant Kothari,a resident of Lohegaon said,The Nagar Road is the worst road in the city with potholes after every few feet. The other day,in an attempt to avoid a pothole I jumped the lane and my car bumped into another vehicle. The vehicle owner demanded compensation and I ended up paying him Rs 2,000. Citizens end up paying a price for mistakes of the administration, he said.
Sudhir Ranade,a student of AISSPMC said even flyovers are not immune to potholes. The university flyover has potholes on both Baner and Ganeshkhand side. There are at least 10 potholes which makes driving during the night extremely dangerous. The flyover was constructed only a few years ago and it is already in a bad shape, he said.
(With inputs from Atikh Rashid)
Photos: Arul Horizon,Sandeep Daundkar and Rajesh Stephen
