Mysuru: At a time when Swachh Survekshan, which ranks cities based on cleanliness, is just three months away and a time when the civic agencies and District Administration want to reclaim the ‘Cleanest City’ tag that was awarded to the Heritage City in the first two editions of the Survekshan, scores of roads are riddled with potholes and craters. The worst affected are extensions that are thickly populated and are most traversed by commuters. 

Dasara has just passed and it has again proved that the authorities have just concentrated on beautifying areas around Mysore Palace and have left out the rest, leaving people to suffer in silence. Cultural Capital, City of Palaces and Twice Cleanest City — all credits are given to Mysuru which sounds meaningless if the real judge goes around the extensions. Extensions like Vijayanagar, Hebbal, Manchegowdanakoppal, Vontikoppal, Kumbarakoppal, Bogadi, Jayalakshmipuram, J.P. Nagar, Jayanagar, Vinayakanagar, Lakshmipuram and many more have very bad roads which should be re-laid and not repaired with hotchpotch   filling-up of potholes. 

The road from Vijayanagar Water Tank to Surya Bakery has not seen asphalt for the last four years. Coupled to that, the road was dug to lay cables making things worse. Now the repair work has begun ironically in rain.

The road from Five Lights Circle towards Lakshmipuram running behind Sri Nadabrahma Sangeetha Sabha is another eyesore with full of craters. Crushed stones were laid on either side of the road two years ago and people were happily waiting for the widening and asphalting to begin which never happened. The roads leading to Nanjumalige are also equally bad.

Vijayanagar High Tension Road is popular for vehicles coming from Periyapatna, Hunsur, H.D. Kote, Hassan and Kodagu. The road is so bad that ambulances using the road to reach hospitals should manoeuvre the craters carefully with the patient inside at God’s mercy.

Metagalli-Hebbal Road and Kalidasa Road are also in deplorable state with heaps of construction debris on either side and bushes coupled with potholes make driving a nightmare. 

A few roads after asphalting are dug again to lay cables making it obvious that there is no co-ordination between MCC and other Bodies.

Residents grumble and move on the bad roads patiently inviting repairs for the vehicles and setting right of broken bones of the two-wheeler riders. Carrying a seriously ill patient, a person after surgery or a woman in labour pain to a hospital is a big question on those bad roads.

Patch works done during Dasara yield immediately once it rains. MCC officials say that the repair work will restart with allocation of Rs.5 lakh for each Ward. However, residents feel that the amount is too meagre to do a good job and assert that a big package exclusively for road repairs is needed.