Saturday, September 02, 2006

Pune roads...the bane of two-wheelers!

Welcome to the world of pot-holes..welcome to Pune..My dear friends or whoever is reading this post..I would sincerely advise you all and sundry to take note of this warning.
If you are planning to come to Pune in the near future,think again!
The sorry state of this city's public trasnport needs no introduction..The PMT is a joke which runs to compound the misery of the hapless Punekars!!The buses which ply are disgustingly filthy,one wonders if they ever heard of the word : Maintenance??
No wonder,people are forced to look out for other means of transport..
Bikes being readily available along wth the comfort thy bring..most people prefer them over other vehicles.
One report i read said that of the 14 lakh vehicles in Pune,abt 11 lakhs are 2-wheelers!!Beat that!!
And what has the PMC done to alleviate the problem??
Nada!Zilch..Zot..nuthing!!
Well,they have surely added to it!The first thing u will notice when u step into Pune is the bad roads here..Just like the first thing u notice when stepping in Mumbai is the slums..
Doesn't the local authority know anyhting abt First Impressions??
The station roads are so narrow and congested..while the Airport road is another pot-hole riddled story!
And every time the Monsoon arrives, the pot holes reappear wth them as though following a holy ritual..
One can literally experience the joys (?) of sitting in a boat right on Pune roads,when one travels in an auto..

Wht is most dangerous in Pune rt now?The cavalier traffic sense of the people or the bad roads?
Frankly speaking,the combination is deadly..The bike riders i have seen in Pune have their own sense of traffic rules..No one bothers to give a signal and suddenly cut lane thru in front of u to take a wrong left or right.
I will be the first person to admit Every time i get out to ride my bike,my heart beat rate goes up dramatically!As thy say in Marathi---'jeev muthit gheoon bike chalavto me'

Over the past few days,I have seen so many reports of 2-wheeler accidents here..I had half the mind to start a count of deaths..And most of these accidents take place due to negligent attitude,either of the PMC or the drivers themselves!The PMC blames the heavy rains for the pitiable condition of the roads,everyone knows they are only shielding the contractors and in turn themselves..Just the other day,i saw an article in the papers abt the excellent condition of the Paud-Mulshi road.here,read it for urself :

Smooth Paud-Mulshi road speaks against PMC

Once again we see how corruption by the civic authorities brings us one step closer to death!

Its so depressing..the age group of most of these casualties is 18-28 yrs...
One moment u have ur entire life in front of u, next u know u r lying in a hospital battling for ur life.That is,if u r lucky to survive long enuf to reach a hospital and not snuff it on the spot!

Normally, I am not too affected by death--even if its closer to home,but for some reason i don't know,these have left me a bit unnerved..Probably 'coz its the fact tht it could have been me??
Or maybe its because they were so young..I have never enjoyed watching those gory suspense and thriller flicks where a psycho goes abt killing the college youths in a party,precisely for the same reason..It made me sick!!

How long is it gonna take for the PMC to stop this horror story scripting on the Pune roads??

1 comment:

K. D. said...

Hey Dude! I dont know abt the sorry state of Pune's road but the situation here in Mumbai & Thane is pathetic too.
Once u cross the Mumbai-Pune Expressway u feel like u on a Camel's ride. The whole Thane-Belapur has more craters than the moon (& bigger too).
U'll notice it when u'll return to ur homeland.
Till then enjoy 'Essel World' rides in Pune