Despite Karnataka High Court issuing a deadline to cover all the potholes in the city, BBMP has once again lagged behind in completing its work. A 22-year-old motorist lost his life on December 10, when he came under the wheels of a BMTC bus after losing his balance while riding a scooter on Kammanahalli road, reported Bangalore Mirror

BBMP blames motorist

The BBMP had been facing the wrath of HC over sub-standard maintenance of Bangalore roads as the city is filled with potholes. When The Logical Indian contacted the Banaswadi traffic police, an official said “The incident took place at 2 pm on the Kammanahalli main road, where the deceased Dilwan lost his balance and was run over by the BMTC bus of Hennur depot and was declared dead on the spot.”

The 22-year-old motorist lost his balance due to a huge pothole dug by BWSSB, who was repairing drains in the road a few weeks ago. As per The News Minute, Dilwan was working as a security guard and was on Jal Vayu Vihar Road when he lost his balance while trying to avoid potholes.

According to Banaswadi Traffic police, most of the times, they end up covering potholes as BWSSB, BBMP never repairs the roads properly. However, when The Logical Indian contacted BBMP officials, they said “We have covered all the potholes in Kammhanalli and the incident occurred due to the negligence of the person.”

HC issued deadline to BBMP

Recently, the HC has taken the local civic bodies into the task and has asked the council to cover the potholes with 15 days left for Christmas, otherwise they would hire other agencies to cover the potholes.

According to The Times of India, the bench told BBMP that they would have transformed the city pothole-free but failed to perform since June 7. “You (BBMP) have created a nightmare for yourself and the citizenry of Bengaluru. We expected you to complete the task by Diwali. With 15 days left for Christmas, will you be able to do this.”

A total number of 182 accidents occurred in 2015 because of potholes, resulting in 38 fatalities, as reported by The Hindu.  In 2016, Karnataka state ranked 13th in the country in terms of pothole-related casualties with 37 deaths, as reported by The Times of India. In 2017, as per a report on road accidents in Bengaluru, a total number of 500 deaths were caused as a consequence of potholes in the city.

According to Deccan Herald reports, on July 2018, the Supreme Court described the number of pothole-related deaths over the country as “frightening”. The SC said that the number of fatalities in such incidents was more than those in terror attacks.

The Logical Indian Take

It’s very disheartening to witness such irresponsible work by the civic body authorities, due to which motorist had to lose his life. Although the HC had ordered to clear the potholes, BBMP has, again and again, failed to do so. Potholes have been a problem for many years now. This is not the first time that the authorities have been delinquent on this issue. In 2015, a PIL was filed by four concerned residents with the result of the issue being solved temporarily. Filling up the potholes with mud and gravel can only provide a temporary solution. BBMP should have a better action plan on the cards to solve this pothole problem permanently.

Will Bangalore ever become pothole free? or will potholes will continue to claim the lives of innocent people.

Also Read: Over 10,000 Lives Were Claimed By Potholes In The Last Three Years, Across India