Residents draw MLA's rangoli on road demanding pothole-filling

The deepest pothole measured on the busy Shirur Park Road, that connects Tolankere lake with the Hubballi-Dharwad main road in Hubballi, is 22 cms in length and three-foot wide.

This pothole stretches the entire length of the road. There are also potholes in various geometrical shapes and sizes dotting that entire stretch.

Repeated requests by the residents to get this road repaired yielded little or no response from the elected representative and Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) officials.

Enraged by the officials’ apathy, the residents of Shirur park area staged a unique protest on Sunday by drawing rangoli on the entire stretch of this road, and also 'paid their last respect' to their MLA Jagadish Shettar, for his non-proactive role in addressing people's problem.

Though several individuals and organisations have made representation to the corporation to fix the pot-holes, it had resulted in no or little action, forcing the citizens to take up this unique protest, under the leadership of Dr Mahesh Nalvad, who unsuccessfully contest against Mr Shettar in the previous assembly election.

“We feel ashamed to say that this constituency belongs to a former chief minister. The roads are in pathetic condition and the areas have hardly any basic facilities,” said C B Patil, a resident of the area.
The residents slammed HDMC stating that the road has not been re-asphalted since last 25 years.

Speaking to media persons, Dr Nalwad said,“better roads are basic rights of the citizen. As an MLA, Mr Shettar should make sure that administration and officials perform their duty. He has failed these people.”
Dr M C Sindhur lashed out at HDMC for not able to repair roads of twin cities.

The HDMC commissioner has also failed in his duty of repairing the roads, he said and added that the corporation should repair it immediately, else the citizens will be forced to revolt against the administration.

Mere co-incident?

However, the plans of the residents were short lived, as bulldozers and road repair equipment started arriving on the road before the protest could begin.

While on one side the protesters were raising slogans against the MLA, one the other side the bulldozer ran over the course base to make the road even.

The road has been selected for the Tender-SURE project, and tender for which has been already opened and the government is negotiating the prices.