All roads lead the same way

Work on National Highway 4 on the outskirts of the city is being carried out at an expenditure running to crores of rupees. Within the city, however, the roads present a different, not-so-pleasant picture.

Despite lakhs of rupees being spent to improve the condition of roads in specific layouts in the city, roads leading to the residents of some important people are in dilapidated condition.

Railways, not roads

One such ‘sufferer’ is Union Minister of State for Railways, K H Muniyappa.

The Minister’s house in the city is situated in Ward 16, Udayagiri Layout (KHB Colony).

The National Highway is at a stone’s throw from the house. Yet, reaching the Minister’s house involves passing roads filled with potholes and ditches.

The main road connecting Tekal Road and Muniyappa’s house is in a dilapidated condition. Other than patches of crushed stones filling up potholes on various parts of the road, there is no proof of any kind of development work having been carried out on this main road.

Take a path from the side of the National Highway, but your woes are no lesser.
Oddly, the road reaching upto the Minister’s old house in Harohalli too is equally bad in condition.

Ignored path

The Gokul Education Society also functions from this region, which stretches between Wards 15 and 16, from the Tekal Circle to the Minister’s house. Thousands of students traverse this road. Students of Pavan College, which is extremely close to the National Highway, too use the road. Yet, authorities have turned a blind eye towards repairing the road.

The people’s problems only increase when they move onto the roads in the interior areas. Several roads are in a state that prevents more than one vehicle from using it.

Often, drivers virtually panic as they find a water tanker moving towards them on the road.

Indefinite wait

The residence of former minister K Srinivasa Gowda, which is on the Kolar-Bangalore road, too is desperately waiting for an asphalt treatment. The only efforts taken to repair the road were to fill the potholes with crushed stones, recently.

Senior politician P Venkatagiriyappa and former legislator L Srinivasaiah have their houses in P C Layout. Here too, the roads are of mud.

The areas that house City Municipal Council members too mostly have mud roads. CMC vice-president S R Murali Gowda, former president V K Rajesh, members Krishnappa, Radha, Amaravathi, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Sanaullah Babu, Raut Shankarappa, Jyothi, Yashodamma and others too step onto mud roads as they get out of their houses.

Byregowda Layout houses legislator R Varthur Prakash and several other people belonging to higher classes of the economy. Yet, this area too had mud roads till a few months ago. Although most roads in the area are far from being dilapidated, not all roads have been asphalted.

‘Look where you go’

All these factors have led the citizens of Kolar to comment that the representatives should try to improve the condition of at least those roads that they themselves use.

They would do the people a great service if they did just that, the residents added.

But the representatives are too busy lobbying to pay much attention to the roads they use.