Deathtrap: Commuters of Bachupally-Miyapur road float paper boats, protests against potholes

Hyderabad: R.K Yadav, a resident of Ameenpur, used to take part in civic activities, like working to get road repairs done in order to save people's lives, but he never expected that he would eventually become a victim of the city roads. The 37-year-old used to regularly travel to and from his office on the Bachupally-Miyapur road filled with potholes. He never knew what awaited him at the other end of the road was Lumbar Spondylosis, a degeneration of the spinal discs.

Around five months ago, Yadav started experiencing severe back pain. It became worse, making it difficult to even sit or stand. An MRI scan revealed that one of his spinal discs had bulged a little. This was the beginning of Lumbar Spondylosis, a medical condition usually seen among elderly people. All this, thanks to the Hyderabad Road Development Corporation Limited (HRDCL) for not responding to multiple representations made by residents of this locality demanding repair of the stretch of road near Coca Cola junction on the Bachupally-Miyapur road.

On just one stretch of road on the Bachupally-Miyapur road, there are around seven to eight potholes, say regular commuters. During the monsoon, in July this year, the roads were badly damaged. Now, there are potholes around two feet deep where even bus tyres can go inside.

"A new road was laid on this stretch near Coca Cola junction in 2014. Since then, no work has been undertaken on this road, except for small patch works to cover the holes, done by the Nizampet Municipal Corporation (NMC). Such repairs do not stay and get washed away by the rain," says Yadav.

Besides health concerns, these potholes are also a reason for traffic jams in the area, resulting in waste of time. "I return from the office between 6 p.m and 9 p.m, and this road sees huge traffic during those hours. The potholes make it difficult for more than one vehicle to move at a time on that stretch. I get delayed around half an hour every day," explains Yadav.

Who is responsible?

When the residents and other civic activists approached the authorities, they were tossed from one department to another. "When we contacted the Malkajgiri collector, he said it is not his department and would drive us to the roads and buildings department, and they said it is the municipality's job," says Yadav.

City-based activist Vinay Vangala explains the helplessness of the residents. "They do not know whom to contact," he says. He also says the multiple requests made to the authorities through Twitter fell on deaf ears.

When the people took to the roads

On 24 September, Saturday, four people—Vinay Vangala, Srinivas Bellam, R.K Yadav, and Chandrasekhar Bejugam—came out on this road and tried doing minor repair works. "We filled some of the potholes with gravel. Later, we realised some of them are really huge and cannot be repaired this way. So, we placed some small plants in front of the bigger potholes to alert the commuters," says Vinay.

To protest against the government's inaction, the team also placed paper boats on the water-filled potholes on which they wrote "HRDCL failed to address potholes on Bachupally-Miyapur road," "Please fix the road potholes," and "Deathtrap potholes here."

Sardar Singh, Executive Engineer of HRDCL, "It has been more than 3 months since the HRDCL has handed over the road to HMDA authorities. The transfer was done since the HMDA authorities are responsible for the improvement of the Bachupally junction where a flyover is being constructed."

This article was jointly written by Amrutha Kosuru and Nimisha S Pradeep