Low-lying houses get inundated after every rain
The more things change, the more they remain the same is a common refrain.
The joy the residents felt with the relaying of roads, desperately in need of repair for years seems to be short-lived.
Definitely, the speed with which the road laying has been done after years of neglect is something to cheer about. No more potholes damaging the cars, as well as jerks felt on one’s body every time one went for a drive.
But the civic apathy to resident issues remains blatantly obvious. The manner in which the roads have been relayed is a classic example of a solution worse than the problem. By simply laying tar over the existing road without scraping the layer defies logic on all levels. Simply putting a layer on top makes the quality of road laying suspect, how long these roads will last only time will tell. However, if the experience is anything to go by, we’d be lucky if it lasts more than a year or two. Then again an endless wait to repair the same roads, the same potholes, the same….
Much more critically, by casually laying this layer on top, the civic authorities have shown their completely callous attitude. This relaying has led to an increase in the level of the roads by a few inches. This is enough to drive the rainwater straight into the residents’ homes, as the level of many houses is now lower than the road level.
While this problem has been highlighted multiple times in the past as well, the civic authorities seem oblivious to this issue faced by residents every time it rains. Initially, it did seem that the authorities are interested in addressing this issue, and in the early phase, there was some scraping of the existing road. This gave hope that once the roads are relayed, they’d not only be more durable but also the road level would be maintained. However, the authorities suddenly accelerated everything, as if to meet some deadline, or just finish off the work hurriedly. Before anyone could realize, the retarred roads were ready and the damage was done. As if on cue, the rainfall a few days back gave a nasty glimpse to residents of what to expect once the monsoons arrive.
It forces one to ask a simple question, is it rocket science that when the pavements or walkways adjacent to the road are lower than the road itself, where would the water run? With storm water drains non-existent in our colony, one is certain that along with water, monsoons will certainly rain misery as well.
Whatever the change in our lives the pothole-free road brings, the civic apathy remains the same and so does the misery.
