Silvester D'Souza
Daijiworld Media Network – Kundapur (SP)

Kundapur, Nov 7: The rubberized road humps that have been laid in an unscientific manner in the roads winding through the town have been proving nightmarish to vehicle drivers. These humps, erected in the name of streamlining smooth movement of traffic, have given rise to rumour that municipal funds running into lacs of rupees have been misused through irregularities in the purchase of these humps.

Sometimes back, the police department had conducted a survey in association with Moodlakatte Institute of Technology, about vehicle parking and easing of traffic in the town and was in the process of preparing a proposal towards this end. The department had encountered high density of vehicular movement in the town and complaints of reckless driving by private buses.

In the meanwhile, the municipal office here invited for tenders relating to rubber humps for being laid in the road here to regulate speed of vehicles. A Bengaluru-based company is said to have come forward with a quotation for supply of humps prepared out of a mixture of tempered hard rubber and plastic and the municipality bought 2,000 metres of rubber humps by paying Rs 12 lac.  Cat eyes worth about Rs 60,000 were also bought. There is a rumour that the municipality had prepared huge bills for buying things worth not more than three lac rupees. This issue came up for discussion at the Karnataka Development Programmes meeting held at the Taluk panchayat hall here recently. Members had demanded for a detailed investigation into this allegation.

When contacted, municipal office said these were not permanent humps but just demo samples. They said further steps would be taken on the basis of public opinion about them. But humps continue to hamper traffic, giving rise to doubts in the minds of the people about the genuineness of the above claim.

These humps are creating problems for people who frequently use the road here. Vehicles move to extreme edges of road in an attempt to avoid humps that are laid only halfway on the roads, creating risk to pedestrians. People also say that speed of their movement is hampered as engines of vehicles go off while negotiating these humps. The fact that several humps began getting tapered off within a week of fixing them has proved their substandard quality. The neglect of the municipal office towards these pleas has angered the people.

There are reports of people getting injured after falling down when crossing these humps. It is said that some pedestrians were injured and got admitted into hospitals after vehicles hit them while trying to avoid the humps. A commuter, Kishore Ballal, urged the municipal office to take measures to clear the roads of these unscientific humps in view of the above problems, and replace them with scientific ones. He said that people will themselves take up the work of removing the humps if the municipality fails to act fast.