Poll promises,plans and implementation

Hyderabad,November 15: Venkateshwarulu’s grin gets broader as he speaks. His paan stained teeth flash as he mentions the rise in the number of customers even as there is a decline in the number of his clients who ride scooters. Motorcycle sales are on the boom while scooters of traditional brands like Bajaj Chetak and LML Vespa are dwindling, yet Venkateshwarulu or ‘Venkat Anna’ as he is popularly known, has reasons to grin.The worst hit vehicles by bad roads and potholes are the scooters. Their smaller wheel base and a mono-shock absorber at the rear hit them harder.Venkat Anna is a scooter mechanic from Bahadurpura who repairs only the traditional types of scooters.His clients come in regularly with problems of low mileage and other repairs. They complain that their scooters are giving fewer kilometres to the litre and he always has some or the other obscure explanation to subdue their angst.

 The fact remains that it is impossible to drive at an optimal speed on city roads, since traffic, bad roads or speed-breakers slow down movement.And then there are the constant repairs to be made to keep the vehicle running.Venkat Anna claims that sometimes even the mounting on the engine on which the shock absorber is fixed gets broken and he has to get it welded by taking apart the engine. This may incur a cost of around a thousand rupees to the scooter owner,since he would be inclined to give the engine a complete overhaul once it is disassembled.The potholes or roads washed away due to rains is just one of the problems facing residents of Bahadurpura, Misri Gunj or Chandulal Baradari.The industrial area dividing Bahadurpura and Chandulal Baradari has a large patch of government land which had been assigned to house a community hall,a school,a poly clinic,a playground and the local Ghmc office some years back.

The gate to this huge patch of land is now rusted and the notice on the gate still says that the land belongs to the MCH.This one sentence sums up the negligence,since the MCH became the Ghmc on April 16,2007.Except for the polyclinic,all the grandiose plans written on the gate remain just that,plans.Implementation seems something which may take place later,whenever that might be.The boundary wall to this patch of land has broken down in various places,sometimes the gaps are large enough for a lorry to pass through.It is only the thick growth of foliage which has kept the place from being used as a parking place.Mohammed Akram,a resident living in Chandulal Baradari Colony claims to have chased away many homosexuals who find the isolated place ideal to carry out their activities at night.