Roads? No, they are craters!

KOCHI : Less than a month after patchwork was completed on the Rajaji road, the tattered condition of the entry road to the KSRTC bus stand is proving to be a death trap for KSRTC’s low-floor A/C buses.According to KSRTC officials, the State Transport Corporation incurred a loss of more than Rs. 3 lakh due to the damage caused to low floor A/C buses. “When a low-floor bus passes over a deep pothole, like the ones that are abundant on Rajaji road, its bottom hits the road and its air bellow (shock absorber) ruptures. Since the buses cannot ply without them, they have to be repaired immediately. Each replacement costs  Rs. 10,000 to 12,000 and takes an entire day to repair. Additionally, the day’s income from the bus is also lost. So each time a low-floor A/C bus’s air bellow is damaged, KSRTC loses up to Rs. 17,000,” said K C Venugopal, the District Transport Officer, Kochi. “In the past one month alone, over 20 such replacements had to be made,” he added.The patchwork on the Rajaji road was completed late in August using metal and soil, but all it could withstand were a couple of showers.  “There is no point blaming the authorities. The incessant heavy rain damaged the road as soon as the patchwork was done. Moreover, this particular stretch is a heavily used one,” states Sudha Dileepkumar, Area Councillor.However, she added that work would commence as soon as there is a respite from the rain.