Mysore/Mysuru: The pothole menace in Mysuru is often counted a major civic issue and road accidents continue to be reported because of the bumpy roads.

In a city with traffic issues galore, potholes have become a new place to light Deepavali diyas.

To vent their anger at the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) for its inaction and lackadaisical attitude, frustrated people of residential and commercial pockets held this unique protest last night and placed burning diyas on the crater-like roads. The protest was spearheaded by Krishnaraja Yuva Balaga on the Gaadi Chowka Road near Madhwacharya Road where there are knee-deep potholes.

“Mysuru District Minister, elected representatives and the MCC authorities had promised the people that all the road works would be completed by Dasara. But even after a month or so, the roads are in the same old bad shape. We want to wake up the MCC and the people in power through the Deepavali diyas,” said protesters.

“There are bad roads everywhere in the city and there is not even one good road that is free of potholes and broken asphalt. As residents, we face a lot of problems. These potholes even cause accidents and cause injuries to the spine. This is why we are trying to highlight these issues. Only such campaigns will wake up the people in power,” a protester said as the photos of the diya campaign went viral.

Rs. 300 crore for road works

Meanwhile, under fire from people, MCC has said that all the road works will begin soon after Deepavali. Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, Mayor Shivakumar said that all the tenders for asphalting the roads have been allotted and work will begin soon after Deepavali.

“When Sunanda Palanetra was the Mayor, she got a special grant of Rs. 20 crore from the Government and MLA Nagendra got a grant of Rs. 50 crore and MLA Ramdas got Rs. 20 crore. In addition, the Public Works Department (PWD) has a grant of Rs. 100 crore and the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA) has also reserved funds for road repairs. In all, over Rs. 300 crore will be spent on making Mysuru city’s roads free of potholes,” the Mayor said.

MCC Superintending Engineer (SE) Mahesh said that certain roads have been completed and they are wearing a new look now. “The focus will be on re-laying the road in all the Assembly constituencies, with special focus on the city and its residential pockets,” he added.