Ahead Of Pm’s Visit, Potholed Road Gets Sudden Makeover | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: Thousands of vehicle users who travel on the road linking Kommaghatta and Kengeri are thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Reason: The road, dotted with potholes and broken stretches for several years, has got a facelift ahead of his visit.
“Our pleas for the last three years to carry out roadwork fell on deaf ears, but the PM’s visit (on Monday) forced civic officials to repair the road overnight. We are thankful to Modi,” a group of road users told STOI on Saturday. Modi will participate in a public event on Monday near Kommaghatta and is scheduled to take Shivakumara Swami Road to reach the venue.

Apart from the road being asphalted, drains with broken slabs have been repaired and replaced and the entire stretch has been given a swanky look. While the complete transformation of the road in no time has made residents happy, many are fuming at elected representatives and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike over the latter’s cavalier attitude.
Jagadeesh, a businessman from the locality, said: “We’ve been complaining about the poor condition of roads for over three years and no official responded to any of our queries. But look at it now. A brief visit by the PM has made all the difference. If they could do this for him, why couldn’t they do it for the people of Bengaluru? The high court has pulled them up on so many occasions. Yet they remained silent. But now, work is happening on a war footing!”
Another resident said the way officials are working now shows they just want to impress their political bosses and don’t care about the plight of common citizens. Some other residents said adjacent crossroads and parallel stretches are still riddled with potholes while officials have focused solely on the main road.
Pipeline work incomplete, yet road asphalted
People at Kengeri said the Cauvery 5th stage pipeline work has not been completed but officials have asphalted the road in a hush-hush manner. “If you come a week later, you will see the entire asphalted stretch being dug up again to lay sanitary pipelines. What was the need to spend taxpayers’ money on temporary work? If officials were so serious, they should have completed pipeline work and then asphalted the road,” said Hanumanthe Gowda, a resident.
HOLIDAY FOR SCHOOLS
Higher education institutions located in the proximity of Modi’s travel route will be shut on Monday due to security reasons. Higher education minister CN Ashwath Narayan said a government order was issued on Saturday. The holiday will apply to higher educational institutions near IISc, Goraguntepalya, CMTI, Ring Road, Nayandahalli, Mysuru Road, RV College, Nagarabavi, MEI junction, Govardhan Talkies, Yeshwantpur and Jakkur Aerodrome route, he said.