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BUMPY
RIDE The pathetic condition of roads in Madhya Pradesh acts a severe bottleneck to its progress. India Today's Neeraj Mishra takes a drive to find out exactly how bad they are. The Scorpio
hungrily eats up the white marking in the middle of the road. The steering
is remarkably stable and acceleration smooth as the engine responds with
alacrity. The occasional pot hole or patchwork is not felt by the superior
suspension. The road is broad enough for two vehicles to pass at high
speed at the same time and the shoulders are not terribly bumpy. Along
the way, there are signs of rural prosperity with rustic designer houses
on sugarcane fields. This is Maharashtra on route 69 of the National Highway.
As you drive
along, the road suddenly starts getting narrower, to about 17 feet in
width from a healthy 22.5. The white markings give way to strange parallel
yellow lines on both sides of the road. It's as if the lines are attempting
to squeeze you in with the shoulders completely off limit. The pride of
Mahindra would easily be destroyed by the jerks. I have entered Madhya
Pradesh near Pandhurna in Chhindwara district on Route 69. The contrast
is as well defined as the topsy turvy numericals. As I race down further,
nightmarish potholes take over. The speed drops from 90 to 30 kmph. The
road between Pandhurna and Multai in Betul district is what has made the
state famous. A nearly 50 km stretch is as bad as it could be. I quietly
hand over the vehicle to the driver who is content that there is at least
a semblence of a road now, compared to two years ago when he remembers
it as a dry river bed. The trucks coming from the opposite direction refuse
to give room as they fear going off the main track. Back in the
Scorpio, as I mull over his words, the road improves between Multai and
Betul. It stays that way till Itarsi, past the Sanpana Jalashay where
the huge manmade lake is surrounded by picturesque hills and dales as
the road winds through like a giant snake. It's a pleasure to just look
at the calm water below from one of the vantage points. My companion suggests
it might be an ideal place for a small rest. But the thin traffic on the
road because of its dire condition prohibits business ventures or wealthier
merchants from Nagpur would be traveling here on week ends. Nature has
made its offer but madhya Pradesh seems to have no use for it. The road
between Betul and Itarsi is a grim reminder of how poor infrastructure
is cause for concern and has blocked economic development. Just outside
Betul local industrialist and NRI Sam Verma has built a beautiful temple
and the digital display at the gate shows that more than 3 lakh people
have visited it since its opening almost a year ago. A flower vendor says
it could easily have been double if only there were better roads. Traveling
back from Raipur in Chhattisgarh, it took exactly four hours to cover
a distance of 280 km to Nagpur. Bhopal is about 340 km from Nagpur and
it takes eight hours to cover it in a good vehicle with only a half-hour
stop for lunch. As I enter home late in the night, I find a government
release in the letter box. Among other things it informs me that construction
and improvement of 460 kms of national highway—out of a total of
4722 kms in the state—has been undertaken. Route 69 is listed in
it. There is also a gripe that the Union Government is to blame for shortage
of funds for improvement of roads. I doze off trying to calculate how
Route 69 could look so different on the o |
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