With only few days to go for the world famous Dasara festival, Mysore is still getting readied for the Naada Habba. It is a festival which draws crowds from across the country and the globe. However the tourists and citizens are welcomed by roads decked with potholes hindering movement of vehicles. Also with some of the roads being closed for repair work, commuters have to take a roundabout route to reach their destination.

If this is the state of the main thoroughfares, the condition of other layouts and connecting roads are worse. This article takes its readers on a bumpy ride on some of the city's roads, highlighting the poor quality of work being carried out by the officials and the problems encountered by the citizens.

Potholed roads rule the City of Palaces:
Every time you enter a city, the first factor that grabs your attention is its roads. With a number of tourist spots in its vicinity and with titles like Heritage city, city of palaces, retirees’ paradise etc. tagged to its name, one would expect the roads of Mysore to be of very high standards. However, this city of palaces is being ruled by bad roads due to negligence and irresponsibility of officials, thus ruining the image of Mysore as tourist destination.

Dasara will be celebrated from September 28 to October 6 this year. The festival is not being held just to continue the tradition of the erstwhile rulers, but also to boost tourism in Mysore. But the officials don’t seem to care much about the image which will be created in the minds of the tourists when they see the condition of our roads.

Every year, citizens and organisations stage protests urging the district administration to improve the city’s roads and the officials respond to it with faulty patch work. Crores of rupees are taken to carry out these eye - wash works. As they profit from such works, the officials see to it that the road works are not long lasting, allege the citizens. And the true colours of their works are revealed with the start of monsoon — all these at the cost of the tax payers’ discomfort.

When roads are potholed, instead of taking long term measures, the officials cover the roads with soil which makes the road slippery when it rains. It becomes a Herculean task for vehicle commuters, especially two - wheeler riders, to move on such roads, dodging potholes and other vehicles.

The words of the District In - charge Minister saying that city roads will be readied six months prior to Dasara and all potholes will be covered with no work left pending, turn out to be empty promises. It is the same story this year too. With the major roads yet to be asphalted, not much can be expected before the start of Dasara.

This Dasara, will all roads lead to Palace?
The Amba Vilas Palace is like the crown of Mysore. With its beautiful architecture and rich history, the Palace attracts a number of visitors each day which goes sky - high during Dasara. Sadly, the roads leading to the Palace are screeching for attention.

Visitors have to buy tickets for entering the Palace from the gate in front of the CADA office. But only the road in front of the gate has been asphalted with the stretch from Shivarathrishwara Circle filled with deep potholes. Patchwork done on the road leading to Dasara Exhibition Grounds is also chipping out paving way for accidents. And the road in front of the District In - charge Minister’s office reflects the plight of other streets in city. The roads leading to Palace gate near Kote Anjaneya Swamy Temple and the gate on Ooty road are also in a bad state. In all, none of the roads leading to the Palace are in good condition which is spoiling the image of the Palace.

Even the higher authorities are not showing any concern towards the faulty works of the Mysore City Corporation (MCC). When questioned about their work, MCC officials dodge the queries by saying filling up of pot holes and repairing of roads is not their responsibility but the job of the Public Works Department (PWD).

“Mini Raja Marga” yet to be ready:
The much-awaited and much - hyped Raja Marga project of MCC will not be completed for this Dasara also. Last year, the Corporation had said that the Dasara procession route will be converted into a Raja Marga reflecting the rich heritage of our city and will be finished before this year’s festival. However, the project still has a long way to go with not even a single stretch completed. Lack of coordination and negligence among officials is playing a major role in the delay.

The then District In - charge Minister Suresh Kumar had announced the project and laid the foundation for it in July last year. It was taken up under the Chief Minister’s special grant of Rs. 100 crore. However, due to delay in its start, the expense of the work has increased from Rs. 16 crore to over Rs. 18 crore.

Suresh Kumar had said that Raja Marga, stretching from Hardinge Circle to Millennium Circle in Bannimantap (4.8 km), will be readied before Dasara - 2011. According to Corporation officials, pavements, heritage lamp - posts, stone railings, stone benches, fountains, etc. are a part of the project.

However, the announced 4.8 km has now reduced to meters! The officials first announced that the work will be started from any one part of the proposed stretch. Later they said the work will be taken up only from Hardinge Circle to Ayurveda Circle. As Dasara was nearing, a few months later, the officials changed their tone saying work will be carried out only between Hardinge Circle and Chamaraja Circle which is approximately 200 mts (may be called “Mini Raja Marga”!). But even after six months, the work has not been completed.

It was said that the work was delayed due to problems in shifting of cables. CESC officials had said that MCC should pay for the expenses incurred in shifting cables. On June 1, District In - charge Minister S. A. Ramdas inspected the work and solved the problem saying that the shifting should be given first priority as it was a government project and the expenses will be looked into later. He ordered CESC officials to complete the task immediately and the stalled work was started again.

The District Minister had assured that at present, the Raja Marga work will be completed upto Chamaraja Circle by Dasara. The second stage upto Ayurveda Circle will be taken up after Dasara to avoid inconvenience during the festival. But these words seem far from reality.

Due to the works being carried out, commuters cannot reach K. R. circle directly from Hardinge Circle and they have to go around the Ooty road. Even if the work is temporarily stalled, it will not ease traffic congestion as raw materials like stones, sand and iron rods will hinder vehicle movement. When asked about the Raja Marga, MCC Superintending Engineer Mahesh said that the work from Hardinge to Chamaraja Circle cannot be completed within this Dasara. The work will be stalled and road opened for commuters. Incompletion of works including side walls are a cause for this delay.

No use even if the Mayor resides here:
Apart from the roads surrounding the Palace and Raja Marga, other main roads like Sayyaji Rao Road, Sheshadri Iyer Road are not in a good condition either. Road connecting Kukkarahalli and Manasa Gangothri was dug up months ago and is yet to see repair. The other stretch leading to railway track was closed a few months back. However only a part of the road has been redone at an elevated level posing threat to road users. Other roads including JLB road and those leading to Ramaswamy Circle paint the same picture. Vehicle riders have to be extra careful as there are many traffic signals on this stretch and sudden stopping of vehicles while avoiding holes on the road may lead to accidents.

“Most of the roads are in a very bad state in T. K. Layout. Chaduranga Road named after the famous poet, RTTC Road, Kamakshi Hospital road, Gangothri Layout and surrounding areas is also in the same condition. These roads lead to Mayor Pushpalatha Chikkanna, MLA Shankaralinge Gowda and Opposition Leader Siddharamaiah’s houses. Even then the officials have neglected them,” says M. N. Sathyananda Vittu, member of an NGO in city.

Bumpy rides on other roads too:
Other roads in residential areas are no different with each area wearing a welcome carpet of potholes making life difficult for its residents. A good example for this is the road joining Mahadeshwara Temple and Shiva Temple on the junction of Akkamahadevi Road and Aravind Nagar in Vishveshvaranagar. The layout shows no sign of urban development and the fact that District In - charge Minister S. A. Ramdas, who represents Krishnaraja Constituency, resides here and yet the condition of the road is poor, is of significance. This road connects Aravind Nagar, Srirampura 2nd stage, SBM Colony and Ramakrishnanagar and daily thousands of commuters ply on this road which leads to many schools also. Yet the road has remained in a deplorable condition for years. The area Corporator Pradeep Kumar had stated a plan to turn the stretch into a double road but the work is yet to be taken up.

The Akkamahadevi Road stretching from Sterling theatre to JP Nagar Gobbali Mara invites accidents. The condition of the road has been worsened further by the plying of heavy vehicles belonging to industries in Vishveshvaranagar Industrial Area. “People’s representatives have inspected these roads and have given assurances to improve them. However, no such work has been started till now. If we question the officials, they say that they do not have enough funds to carry out the work, expressing their helplessness. Our representatives have protested in the Corporation meeting in this regard but the officials haven’t responded to this also,” complain the residents of the area.

Another junction which is in urgent need of attention is the SJCE road connecting Hunsur Road. This junction was dug up more than a year ago and is yet to see asphalting. The road leads to around five schools, colleges and the Mysore University and is an accident prone area which goes from bad to worse during rainy season.

It is alleged that for any work, a commission of 40 % is demanded by the officials. Every year, the work is awarded to the same contractor — only these contractors submit tender and are given the task. No new contractors take up the work. Hence doubts arise about the transparency of the system.

Chief Minister D. V. Sadananda Gowda, while addressing engineers during the Engineers’ Day celebration in city on Thursday said “People point a finger at the unholy nexus between engineers and politicians and curse them every time they ride on a bad road. They say politicians take money from engineers”. He advised the engineers to carry out good work and make the system more transparent.

The innumerable protests, letters written to newspapers and complaints to officials has not yielded anything fruitful. Will the officials and engineers improve after hearing the CM’s words of wisdom or will they continue with their carelessness?