Is Victoria Road soon going to sink?

BANGALORE: With soaring real estate rates, showrooms and educational institutions, the last thing one would expect in Victoria Layout are sinking manholes and wires left on the footpath in a state of neglect.There are many manholes on this stretch of road. Most of these manholes have began to sink.  Also the open drain near the road has been covered using a barricade. As a result, the pedestrians have to use the main road to reach the other side. A pedestrian on the road, Sneha, said, “It is thoughtful of the authorities to have blocked it but a better job of covering it could have been done by them.”  She further added that as the signal receives a substantial amount of traffic, it was quite perilous for the passersby to use the road to get through.At the junction of Palmgrove Road and Victoria Road, an open manhole has been covered up using dried coconut branches and shells. The risk it poses seems to have been conveniently forgotten by the authorities. The road handles traffic from Indiranagar, Domlur and Jeevanbhima Nagar. One of the shoulders of the road seems to be at a lower gradient when compared to the other shoulder. It has been covered and asphalted in a few areas while in others, it has been left as it is.  Due to the partial patch work and asphalting that has been done by the civic agencies, the road surface has become uneven.Craters throughout the stretch of the road leave both motorists and pedestrians in a lurch. A motorist on the road, Prakash, informed City Express that the road has been left in the same state of neglect for the past few years. He remarked, “I am a routine user of the road. The asphalt cover wears off after a few days. As far as the manholes are concerned, we do not see it until we are extremely close to it. Swerving is the only option we are left with.”  In very close proximity to the school, several wires have been left unattended. The thick wires cover three-fourth of the footpath leaving no space for people or students to walk on. The local corporator of the ward, Shivakumar, was unavailable for comments. S Somashekhar, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief executive engineer, for the region said, “I think this is because of the manhole that has collapsed. The hassles will be sorted as soon as the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) finishes reconstruction of these manholes.”

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