“Thank you for coming to #Mangaluru. Now we can enjoy pothole free (sic) roads in those areas where you had passed. On behalf of all Mangaloreans I request you to come back again in three months as these roads will last only for three months...” Netizen Junaiz Mohammed tweeted after Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a public event in the city on September 2.
The netizen’s prediction was off by quite a lot of days, as the freshly laid bitumen on NH 66 lasted just about 10 days.
Just a few days before the Prime Minister’s arrival, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) officials went on an overdrive filling up potholes and asphalting the entire stretch between New Mangalore Port and Kuloor. Even the decades old Kuloor bridge got a fresh coat of paint.
Just 10 days after Modi’s visit, the freshly applied asphalt had peeled off at many places. Many people, like Junaiz Mohammed, tweeted that the poor-quality bitumen would not last long.
True to their predictions, potholes reappeared on the stretch.
“The public will have to witness such spectacles as there is no transparency and accountability in filling up potholes,” activist M G Hegde said. He alleged that as the newly asphalted stretch barely lasted a week, all the money spent on road repair was down the drain.
NHAI project director Linge Gowda, however, said that temporary road works were taken up along the stretch from New Mangalore Port to the venue of the Prime Minister’s public event. “We will inspect the potholes and take action,” he assured.
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