BANGALORE: One wonder’s if the condition of Swami Vivekananda Road will ever improve. As the civic agencies dodge the responsibility and play the blame game, the motorists and pedestrians who are using the road have to silently suffer.Though riddled with potholes, there is still some bit of the road left for the motorists to use. However, that is not the case for the pedestrians. At the junction where Artillery Road meets Swami Vivekananda Road, the footpath slabs have been removed.The ‘pavement-less’ situation carries on the either sides of this junction for a good 20 to 30 feet. Moreover, where there is a footpath, one can find electric cable wire drooping and hanging low from the poles. Though the wires are not naked, and hence do not pose a threat of giving an electric shock, chances of someone tripping on these wires is quite possible.The situation leaves no room for the pedestrians to walk on. The condition of the road often leads to a traffic snarl at the junction.“Four-wheelers and two-wheelers crawl inch by inch in an attempt to leave no room for another vehicle to cut in. With such a tight squeeze for space, how does one walk?” questioned a pedestrian on the condition of anonymity.Speaking with City Express, the BBMP chief engineer for the area, Krishna Mani said that he too had noticed the problem and has instructed his executive engineer to look into the matter. However, the executive engineer, Suresh was unavailable for comments. At the moment, some of the broken footpath slabs have been recklessly dumped along the roadside, while in others, the muddy track bares evidence of a pavement that once existed.Speaking of the sorry condition of motorists, Harish, a resident of Cambridge Layout who uses the road on a daily basis mentioned that he was overjoyed earlier this week when he saw workers working in the area. However, his happiness lasted only a few hours.He said, “There is no point complaining or cribbing about this stretch. Tuesday night, as I was returning home after work, I saw some work in progress on the road. I heaved a sigh of relief as I thought that the authorities had finally taken some mercy on us and decided to mend the craters on this road. But the next morning while going to work, I was shocked to see that the work in progress was not to mend the potholes, they were laying the divider. What is the point of having a divider when there is hardly a road to commute on?” questioned Harish.He further added that he was very disappointed by the callous attitude of the officials. “Are we supposed to suffer like this till the metro starts working? If the civic bodies want to keep us hanging like this, then maybe we should start paying our taxes only once the metro services start,” said an enraged Harish.
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