Potholes leaves apex court incensed
Thursday - September 20, 2018 9:20 am ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
WTN- Taking strong exception to the growing number of potholes on our roads and resultant deaths, the Supreme Court has come down heavily on state governments for their negligence and excuses.
It is pertinent to mention that according to 2017 figures, close to 3,600 people died in the country due to injuries caused by bad or potholed roads.
This figure is way above all those killed in terror attacks in the same year, which stands at 803. India has the dubious distinction of being the country with the highest number of road accidents and fatalities in the world.
Despite advanced signaling and GPS tracking systems and expansive and facilitated network of expressways and four and six lane highways, we have not been able to control road accidents and deaths. Despite the government’s tall claims of having the best roads here, Madhya Pradesh is one state with one of the highest number of accidents and casualties due to bad roads.
There are beautiful stretches of swanky four and six lane expressways, but there are equally nightmarish stretches of dusty, muddy and broken roads in various parts of the state, which is a major cause of worry. Bad roads not only endanger lives but also pose as investment bottlenecks and failure of infrastructure that deters investors. It suggests government’s lack of sincerity and projects it as a laggard.
Road is the one of the first and most basic necessities of connectivity and communication and one of the foremost yardsticks of development. No economy and society and progress if it doesn’t have a robust road network among other things. No one can take away from the government what it has done, but there is no excuse for not being able to do the rest. If every two good roads have two corresponding bad roads, then the effect of the good roads diminishes and it is the bad roads that reflect poorly on governance.
Bad road is a big put off for anyone who comes to a place, either as an investor or as a tourist. It is not the highways that just matter; it is the interior roads that are used by more people and more ordinary, middleclass and poor people for their day to day need. They too deserve a better life. We cannot ignore them for the benefit of highway users.
Lack of fund is a poor excuse because we all know how fund is misused in India on frivolous projects, how it is wasted in poor constructions and how it is siphoned off by corrupt contractors. The government needs to be honest in its dealings and tough against such contractors who waste taxpayers’ money on roads that don’t last one season. Strict accountability must be fixed on dishonoring deadlines and habitually offending contractors must be delisted or banned.
There are umpteen numbers of projects hanging fire for years and most of them are due to contractor issues which the government is unable to sort and handle. This is why it falls on the government to clean up the system and prioritise roads as essential means of development. Hiding behind lame excuses will eventually lead to its own doom.
-Window To News
It is pertinent to mention that according to 2017 figures, close to 3,600 people died in the country due to injuries caused by bad or potholed roads.
This figure is way above all those killed in terror attacks in the same year, which stands at 803. India has the dubious distinction of being the country with the highest number of road accidents and fatalities in the world.
Despite advanced signaling and GPS tracking systems and expansive and facilitated network of expressways and four and six lane highways, we have not been able to control road accidents and deaths. Despite the government’s tall claims of having the best roads here, Madhya Pradesh is one state with one of the highest number of accidents and casualties due to bad roads.
There are beautiful stretches of swanky four and six lane expressways, but there are equally nightmarish stretches of dusty, muddy and broken roads in various parts of the state, which is a major cause of worry. Bad roads not only endanger lives but also pose as investment bottlenecks and failure of infrastructure that deters investors. It suggests government’s lack of sincerity and projects it as a laggard.
Road is the one of the first and most basic necessities of connectivity and communication and one of the foremost yardsticks of development. No economy and society and progress if it doesn’t have a robust road network among other things. No one can take away from the government what it has done, but there is no excuse for not being able to do the rest. If every two good roads have two corresponding bad roads, then the effect of the good roads diminishes and it is the bad roads that reflect poorly on governance.
Bad road is a big put off for anyone who comes to a place, either as an investor or as a tourist. It is not the highways that just matter; it is the interior roads that are used by more people and more ordinary, middleclass and poor people for their day to day need. They too deserve a better life. We cannot ignore them for the benefit of highway users.
Lack of fund is a poor excuse because we all know how fund is misused in India on frivolous projects, how it is wasted in poor constructions and how it is siphoned off by corrupt contractors. The government needs to be honest in its dealings and tough against such contractors who waste taxpayers’ money on roads that don’t last one season. Strict accountability must be fixed on dishonoring deadlines and habitually offending contractors must be delisted or banned.
There are umpteen numbers of projects hanging fire for years and most of them are due to contractor issues which the government is unable to sort and handle. This is why it falls on the government to clean up the system and prioritise roads as essential means of development. Hiding behind lame excuses will eventually lead to its own doom.
-Window To News
