Bus stuck in pit, stalls traffic

[1]

A Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) bus got stuck in a pit on the busy MTH Road in Ambattur on Monday morning, resulting in vehicles queueing up for several hours.

At 10 am, the rear wheel of the bus got caught in the pit that the driver failed to spot in the water-logged street.

The metro water gushing out of the trench flood the road before flooding the BSNL office nearby.
Normal flow of traffic was restored only after two hours.

This is not a stray case. Drivers of MTC buses have been crying foul over bad roads and the poor maintenance, which takes a toll on drivers’ nerves as well as the buses and result in increasing “break downs”, causing hardships to commuters.

The number of buses getting punctured has also been increasing since the monsoon because of the bad roads, according to MTC officials.

The incident that took place at Ambattur was a result of sheer negligence on the part of metro water authorities as the pit in the middle of the road was there for several days, complained passengers who also blamed civic authorities for not relaying the road for several months.

“The stretch is the one of the worst maintained roads in the city and is filled with potholes. Driving on MTH Road is a nightmarish experience where several drivers dread to drive.

Many drivers employed on the route are now experiencing severe back pain among another ailments,” an MTC driver of route 70 told DC.

Despite several appeals to authorities concerned, the rain-battered roads are yet to be restored and this has resulted in several accidents, lamented a motorist.

“MTH Road and Ennore Expressway are two major roads where several vehicles suffer punctures. Despite several reminders, the roads have not been laid.

The number of punctures because of bad roads has increased alarmingly,” said an MTC official. However, the official declined to reveal statistics on this.