People suffer as internal roads become victims of lethargy
   Date :17-Jun-2019

The residents in this part of Trimurti Nagar must be facing a lot of hardship in day-to-day life because of
sewer line work that is ‘in progress’ for past over a month. The deep trench is bang in front of this house, making it impossible for the owner to even bring out his car.
 
 
 
 
By Kartik Lokhande:
 
The most visible indicator of development is road. If the condition of road is good, it is a positive indicator. But, if the condition of road is bad, it reflects negatively on the authorities that are pushing for developmental projects in the city. ‘The Hitavada’ takes up two cases of internal roads where work on developmental projects are in progress but the people are suffering because of casual implementation. One road starts from the back side of Sahayog, a residential complex constructed by Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT), to Gajanan Maharaj Mandir road in Trimurti Nagar. And, another is internal road in Ujjwal Nagar.
 

 
One wonders if such a road condition exists in front of the houses of the city fathers or the leaders or the administrators.
 
Chandrashekhar Deshpande, retired Vice-Principal of C P and Berar College, and his wife Hema Deshpande, retired scientist from Indian Bureau of Mines, cannot step out of their house with their car. For, the road bang in front of the house has been dug up and a deep trench does not allow even a two-wheeler to pass safely. “For the past one month, I have been parking my car near Gajanan Maharaj Mandir in Trimurti Nagar. Because, I cannot bring my car in the courtyard of my house, thanks to the trench dug up in front of my house,” says an angry Chandrashekhar Deshpande. He has a reason to be angry. For, he has been talking to the corporator Lahukumar Behate from his Prabhag and also the officials of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), but to no avail. He is the worst-sufferer of the sewer line project, but he is not the lone sufferer.
 

 
 
The trouble started a couple of months ago. The road from the back side of Sahayog, a residential complex constructed by NIT in Bhamti area, to Netaji Colony to Gajanan Maharaj Mandir road in Trimurti Nagar, was in ‘fairly good condition’ then. But, the work on the sewer line project started and soon there was a ‘deep’ mes. For days on end, the entire stretch of road was dug up, affecting the road users and residents badly. Gradually, in some part, the dug up earth was pushed into the trench in which huge pipes were placed. And, in the pre-monsoon showers, this portion became slippery. Just ahead of the entrance to Yashoda High School a deep trench has been dug up. The motorcyclists and bicycle riders still use the road as it connects to Trimurti Nagar. But, it is risky. As Deshpande tells, a few days ago, a motorcyclist with a pillion rider tried to use what remains of the ‘road’ by the side of the deep trench. But, the motorcyclist lost balance and they fell into the trench. Though there were no serious injuries, the incident highlights risk to the users of this ‘road’.
 
“NMC and the corporators have not even ensured that a rope or some kind of barricading was done to avoid such mishaps. We had tied a rope on our own, but someone took it away,” rues Hema Deshpande. The couple, just like others in the area, is concerned about the time when schools reopen and the school-children will start using this ‘road’. Besides, with monsoon round the corner, if the work does not get completed and road is not tarred, the entire area will be in a mess and people will face the risk of skidding of two-wheelers. In fact, on June 11 night, Vivek Kidele, a resident of Netaji Colony, suffered dislocation of shoulder and chest injury as his scooterette skidded on the bad road. He was returning home after closing his shop in East Nagpur.
 
“We had to toil hard to get him to hospital as there is no orthopaedician available nearby. I think the sewer line work should be completed at the earliest and road should be repaired immediately to save others from such mishaps,” says Vinayakrao Kidele, father of Vivek. Sharad Chilwe, another resident of the area, also expressed concern over the bad condition of the road. “There was no demand from the residents for the sewer line. Even if the sewer line was to be laid, the authorities concerned should have ensured proper safety of citizens and also that the road gets repaired in time,” he says. According to him, many local residents suffered minor injuries as their two-wheelers skidded due to bad condition of road. The internal roads in Ujjwal Nagar also are in bad shape.
 
Those were dug up for laying of cables and other works. However, instead of restoring the road properly after completion of work, the earth has been used to fill up the dug up portion. It has made miserable the life of residents, entrance to whose house is blocked by such heaps. There are parts where paver blocks have been installed, but in many cases paver blocks are just lying in heaps with the work stalled for days. Besides, construction material is dumped casually along the roads.
 
May it be metal, may it be sand, may it be iron sheets... one can find these materials reducing the usable road width considerably in different lanes. Of course, similar must be the condition in different localities where developmental works have been taken up. The people everywhere are in favour of development, but they want the execution of development projects to be planned in such a manner that people of the area do not face grave inconvenience. For, that will not only win the confidence of people in local development projects, but also transform the image of various authorities in Nagpur from being casual to being careful and responsive.