Mounesh Vishwakarma
Daijiworld Media Network - Bantwal (SP)
Bantwal, Mar 20: Since about a week, people of the town have been fed up of the sounds of machines and problems created by the digging they have been undertaking. While the second phase of integrated drinking water project is being executed by Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Board (KUWSSB), the National Highways Authority has undertaken the work of concreting by undertaking digging work beside the service road.
People in general are tormented by the sound and air pollution created by these works at B C Road. In addition, problems created by the digging like BSNL telephone line getting severed, damage to other buried cables etc have become common. To set right these problems, another backhoe arrives on the spot and begins digging. As a whole, road and roadsides are being cut or dug at the whims and fancies of the concerned, without bothering about the problems faced by common people.
On Saturday March 18 and Sunday, the work of laying the pipeline was undertaken continuously near Padma Complex. The pipeline moves through the service road, proceeds below the flyover and reaches the spot where pipes are fitted near Goodinabali village. It may take nearly two weeks for the digging to be completed.
Although the officials have been claiming that they undertake all works by ensuring that the people do not suffer, dust and traffic problems have become the order of the day at B C Road. On the one-way road that comes from the side of Mangaluru and passes through B C Road town and moves towards Narayanaguru Circle, vehicles have begun to suddenly enter from the opposite direction. They are compelled to do so because one side of the service road has been closed for traffic. As a result all vehicles including buses which go to Mangaluru from B C Road come from the wrong side on this two-lane road from the flyover. These vehicles will continue to move on the wrong side till they join the highway beside the divider at the post office turn. In the morning and evening, this arrangement has been giving rise to traffic jams. As there is lack of information and guidance, vehicles coming from both sides of the road from Mangaluru suddenly get confused when they encounter vehicles coming from the opposite direction at B C Road. This has also been giving rise to accidents. Several minor accidents and fights between vehicle drivers, have happened here already. At the point where vehicles climb down from the flyover to move towards Mangaluru too vehicles encounter problems as they come across vehicles coming from the opposite direction which rush to the left of the road from the right, giving rise to more accidents.
The least one expects from the departments is a proper system to regulate vehicular traffic to ward off confusion. Staff should be posted at strategic points to give proper directions for the vehicles to move. Police need to take strict action against buses which stop on the highway and service road in the guise of picking or alighting of passengers, but continue to be parked there, creating traffic bottlenecks.
Engineer of KUWSSB, Shubhalaxmi, said that the work relating to integrated drinking water project around B C Road will take at least ten days to finish. National Highways Authority of India engineer, Ajit, informed that the work of concreting of service road and laying of drains will take 15 to 20 more days.