One for the road

So, I am all fired up when Hadapsar ward corporator Rajlakshmi Bhosale raves and rants at the general body meeting of the Pune Municipal Corporation, demanding better road conditions. Frankly, during the Corporation meeting that I cover, were she to want to strangle any of those officials who seek to wish her and her complaints away, I would most happily jump to her assistance.

However, pray, whose road it it anyway, especially when it has been left riddled with potholes, nay, make that craters? It seems like the city’s entire traffic has descended on this road. Poor road conditions and deaths occurring on it are hardly of much consequence in a hard-hearted Pune. But consider the statistics involved at least two persons are killed on the Pune-Solapur road every month. And the list of injured victims… bah! Don’t even ask. In any case, while statistics do tell their own story, they can often desensitise.

Each one keeps passing the buck on to the other. The Public Works Department (PWD) self-righteously says that it handed the road to the Pune Municipal Corporation in 1997 for maintenance. The Corporation, which wants to widen the road to 150 feet, claims that portions of the land belong to the Pune Cantonment Board. So problem, problem, problem. No street lights and more accidents. Plus, there are callous politicians who have virtually stalled widening of the road in their zeal to extend patronage to a string of unauthorised stalls.

Where do we go from here? Yes, road dividers have come up. Only, they seem to have left a trail of unwanted debris around. And there are a few street lights which vividly shine on the craters, oops, potholes. A rigid compound wall obstructing traffic has also been done away with. But the Pune Municipal Corporation has no money to acquire properties. And even if it does, it will take years before the process gets underway. It is a story as old as time.

I still take the road muttering under my breath and pray that some day better sense will prevail. And with the perseverance of a King Bruce, I shall continue to write about the pathetic condition of the road till it is safe for travel.

In the meantime, to count the days till that happy time, to preserve my patience, I shall continue counting the potholes.