Sir,
The citizens of Mysore hear of how under various schemes crores of rupees are being earmarked for development projects. Unfortunately, it has no relationship to what is really happening.
Let me illustrate with some typical example. In Kuvempunagar E&F block, work of casting slabs in approaches to the road was taken up about 6 weeks ago. While most of the road are 30 ft. wide, there was one road, Manujapatha I Cross Road, which was 40 ft wide.
However, the contractor started casting 30 ft wide slab instead of 40 ft. When the local resident requested the contractor to provide 40 ft wide slab, he expressed his helplessness. The contractor was laying 30 ft slabs in adjacent roads which were all 30 ft wide and since the estimate provided for 30 wide slab for Manujapatha Road also he was doing the work accordingly.
The resident's appeal that it would leave a wide gap of 10 ft which would be a potential hazard, did not concern him since he was constructing as per what was provided in the estimate. No amount of pleading helped and the Corporator of the ward was of no help. This is how the implementation takes place.
The resident complained of another problem of covering the drainage ditch as it was deep but as usual it was not heeded and he spent Rs. 5000 from his own pocket to cover it!
Let me give another example. Many of the concrete posts indicating cross/main road in Saraswathipuram do not serve the purpose as the writing has either faded or they have broken down. Of course, wrong indication has become common which makes it difficult for anybody coming in search of houses.
There is a road marked '10th cross' whereas it should have the appropriate number as a main road. This causes confusion to the residents who while registering their name for any document are perplexed.
In this area there is utter confusion of Crosses and Mains. It is a miracle that they get their post and possibly some may have been missed. As letters published in newspapers did not yield any result, they wrote to the area MLA S. A. Ramdas who promptly replied to the residents and sent a copy to MCC. Nothing has happened and confusion still persists. This can be solved only if some responsible official comes and reviews the situation at site.
The above instances only shows that the authorities are indifferent to citizens' woes for there is no accountability. Worse, while taking up works no prioritisation is done for I can show roads which have not seen any blacktopping done. Where does all the money go?
— H.R. Bapu Satyanarayana, Convenor, MGP
Saraswathipuram
7.2.2010
