Sunday Section
New
Delhi, 12 August 2018
“Pothole Deaths”
CIVIC BODIES UTTER FAILURE
By Proloy Bagchi
“Pothole deaths” in the country have caught
the attention of even the Supreme Court, wherein it has observed that number of
deaths due to potholes on the roads is more than those due to terrorism! A
Division Bench made the observation and directed the Supreme Court Committee on
Road Safety to look into the matter. Terming the situation “frightening” it said
that those who die in such accidents should be entitled to compensation. The
issue arose before the Bench when it was hearing a matter relating to road
safety.
We Indians have lived for long with bad roads
and potholes in them. When we were less developed and hence most of us could
not afford a motorised vehicle, we never really thought that it mattered much.
We would either walk across giving the pothole a wide berth or cycle past it
avoiding its treacherous depths. In lightless nights, which many of our towns
suffered from not too long ago, the potholes were actually a kind of nightmare.
Many a pedestrian broke his ankle and many a cyclist broke his shoulders by
becoming victims of this failure of men building roads for the benefit of the
citizens.
One recalls that even in childhood one used
to see advertisements of motorcycles or cars made abroad adding that the
product was made for Indian road conditions. One did not know what those
conditions were, but presumed that they were, if anything, bad. Hence, one was
told that the product was made sturdier to withstand an unforeseen shock caused
by deceptive surfaces. The tyres, their rims and the shock absorbers could get
damaged as also misalignment of the steering system might result. The materials
used in manufacturing these had to have a high level of tolerance against such
sudden and unanticipated hits. Whether this was done or not by the
manufacturers is, of course, another matter.
The fact, however, is that we have lived with
potholes all our lives. Whether in mufussil or in metros, potholes have been a
part of our lives! Despite allotment and outlays of crores of rupees for laying
and relaying of urban roads there has been no respite from potholes. Even the
country’s capital or its financial or electronic capitals, Mumbai and
Bengaluru, suffer deeply with the menace of potholes.
The newspapers are littered with reports and
photographs of splitting roads and potholes therein but hardly any measure is
ever taken to provide relief to the people. Things have come to such a stage
that even tyre companies exploit bad roads and potholes to push their products.
After all what exactly is a pothole? It has
been defined as “a structural failure in the road surface due to water in the
underlying soil and the traffic passing over it. Water first weakens the
underlying soil, traffic then fatigues and breaks the poorly supported asphalt
surface area. Continued traffic action ejects both the asphalt and underling
soil material to create a hole in the pavement”. One believes that this results
from indifferently made roads without due diligence and use of proper material
and technique.
Besides, road building in India suffers from
utter lack scruples as well as supervision. Most of the road-building agencies
wink at use of material of indifferent quality short-changing the government or
its various subordinate outfits.
The Indian monsoon is generally blamed for
broken down roads across the country. True, water is an enemy of asphalt and
the moment it seeps in it starts eating away the roads from underneath. But, it
has been argued, that South-East Asian countries which generally have heavier
rains do not face the problem of bad roads as we do. Singapore, for instance,
has rains every day -- sometimes light and sometimes heavy -- but its roads
hardly ever deteriorate like ours.
Of course, all these countries, barring very few, are run very efficiently and,
presumably, the repair work is carried out promptly and competently using
modern gadgetry. The commuting public, therefore, never face the danger and/or
inconvenience from ever-enlarging pot holes as we do.
It is, therefore, a matter of shame for us
that our highest court has had to make an observation on bad roads and the
casualties that they have caused. Even the national print media has taken note
of it, but the authorities that matter do not seem to have blinked. These are
mostly the local bodies, the municipal corporations or public works departments
of the State governments.
Significantly, no Chief Minister of any of
the affected States has ever found time to comment on the daily casualties that
are caused on the roads by pot holes or even indifferent road engineering. They
probably think that it is a matter to be handled by the municipal authorities and
hence refrain from making any observation.
For instance, in Bhopal, deaths on the roads
are reported daily but the Chief Minister has never tried to ascertain as to
why the citizens, generally children in prime of youth, are dying in such large
numbers. Likewise, Bengaluru is another city where death-on-the-roads is very
common but the State government has hardly ever taken steps to improve matters.
Probably, in this matter the colour of the government is not material.
Everyone knows that road construction
agencies such as the public works department (PWD) of the State governments or
the civil construction wings of the municipalities are highly corrupt. It is
openly said that only around 60% of the amount sanctioned is spent in road
construction and the remaining 40% is eaten up by officials, engineers and
elected representatives.
No wonder the position of a municipal councilor
is highly attractive and a five-year term can bring in immense riches for them.
It has been noticed that they not only build multiple palatial houses, but also
acquire a fleet of vehicles, generally of SUVs. There is, therefore, so much at
stake in a municipal councillor’s post for a petty politician. One can imagine
the pickings at higher levels if politicians at the lowest tier of our people’s
democracy have such a rich harvest from a single 5-year term.
We claim to be on the way to becoming a
super-power. It would be a shame for a super-power to have such miserable basic
essential of civilised life as roads. Mao Tse Tung is reported to have said
that “If you want prosperity build roads”. But India’s politicians have failed
to adhere to this sensible aphorism. They only treated construction activity as
a cash cow and made money for themselves and the party to which they belonged.
Recall, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister had
the audacity to broadcast from the US that roads in his State were better than
those in America and later his son, an aspiring politician, also came out with
a supporting statement. Both seem to have been oblivious of road conditions in
the capital city and elsewhere in the State where life and costly assets are
lost everyday due to bad roads. The losses, if compiled, could be worth crores
making a dent on the country’s GDP.
One doesn’t find any hope for improvement in
the foreseeable future as drastic changes in the system are necessary. That is
unlikely to happen as the changes would be against the interests of the very agents
of change -- the politicians. Hence, India is going to wallow in muddy and
watery potholes for quite some time which will continue to take precious lives
and destroy private and public assets.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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