Less than a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway during a visit to poll-bound Karnataka, commuters on Saturday reported waterlogging in pockets of the 118-km road, with many attributing the ‘hasty’ opening of the highway to its newfound woes.
Built at a cost of Rs 8,480 crore, the Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway was expected to reduce the travel time between the two cities from around 3 hours to 75 minutes. However, commuters couldn’t reap this benefit on Saturday as overnight summer rains led to waterlogging in some areas, causing traffic snarls and delays.
In particular, there was waterlogging near Sangabasavana Doddi between Ramanagara and Bidadi, the Indian Express reported, while NDTV reported bumper-to-bumper accidents resulting from the waterlogging.
“Soon after water started filling the underbridge, multiple accidents were reported. First was mine ... and then there were a series of bumper-to-bumper accidents involving seven to eight vehicles,” an agitated commuter told NDTV.
Frustrated commuters also took to social media to lash out at the Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government in Karnataka, as well as PM Modi, accusing them of prioritising optics before safety ahead of the polls in the southern state.
Given the state of infrastructure, some even recalled last year's floods in Bengaluru, wondering if the city would have to face a similar situation again.
Opposition politicians, too, took the opportunity to take swipes at the BJP government, with Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge’s son Priyank Kharge accusing the saffron party of fooling people.
DK Suresh also flayed the saffron party for hurrying the road works that have caused 'severe distress in Ramanagara & Mandya Districts'.
BRS leader Y Sathish Reddy highlighted the pitfalls of rushing infrastructure projects for elections.
Meanwhile, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), which had overseen the project, blamed locals for the waterlogging along the expressway.
“We had left space for drains but some of the villagers blocked the drains with mud which resulted in flooding. We are clearing it and the road will be open as usual,” NHAI project director B T Sridhar was quoted as saying by IE.