Potholes are a cause of grave concern in the country. They are not only responsible for several road accidents but also affect the decorum of the city. And, when the civic officials fail to fix these problems, the common man and some responsible officers don’t shy away from taking the matter in their own hands.
Remember the Mumbai man who filled potholes on the city roads with his bare hands after his son died in a road mishap happened because of a pothole? Recently, a traffic police officer from Bhatinda also went viral for his thoughtful gesture of filling the potholes around the city.
A similar case has come to light in Bengaluru recently. On August 28, the joint commissioner of police (traffic) Ravikanthe Gowda had circulated a text message among the traffic inspectors and asked them to download BBMP Fix My Street app to report potholes around the city to the BBMP. Despite several complaints, BBMP failed to fix the potholes in the city, reports Bengaluru Mirror.
So, on Monday morning, three traffic police officers did BBMP’s job by filling the potholes near Garuda Mall in the city. All the roads that come under Ashok Nagar traffic police station have been fixed by the officers.
A video of the incident is doing the rounds on social media. The video also shows one of them getting on the truck to fill the potholes with tar.
Filling potholes near Garuda Mall! Great work @blrcitytraffic @ashoknagartrfps pic.twitter.com/BnUctwcHbE
— Vedant Rander (@vedantr99) September 30, 2019
“We had previously written a letter to BBMP to fill the potholes but the work was not done. It was a Monday morning and traffic was at its peak. So we arranged a tar truck and poured some tar over the potholes so that no vehicles got stuck. We have been instructed to lodge complaints on the BBMP Fix My Street app, but this seemed like a better option rather than waiting for the job to be done,” a traffic cop from Ashok Nagar police station said.
Bengaluru traffic cops also said that they have filled in all 221 potholes in the city. They have also issued a list of name and number of potholes fixed in different areas of the city. Namely:
JB Nagar (12), Halasooru (12), KR Puram (5), Ulsoor, VV Puram (2), Hebbal (16), Hulimavu(3), KS layout (21), Banasvadi (6), Cubbon Park(5), HalasuruGate (8), High Grounds (4), Ashok Nagar (6), Wilson Garden (3), Shivaji Nagar (3), Pulakeshi Nagar (8), KG Halli (2), Adugodi (4), Madiwala (3), MICO Layout (3), Electronic City (4), HSR Layout (4), Whitefield (3), Airport (4), RT Nagar (5), Yelahanka (7), Chikkajala (3), Malleshwaram (5), RajajiNagar (11), yeshwantpur (2), Peenya (5), Jalahalli (5), Upparpete (5), Chikkpete (0), Sadashivnagar (0), Vijaynagar (5), Magadi Raod (5), Kamakshipalya (3), Byatarayanapura (3), City Market (8), Kengeri (1), Jaynagar (0), Banshankari (0).
“It is a proactive initiative. Little more work from the Bengaluru Traffic Police to prevent accidents,” P Harishekaran, additional commissioner of police told News 18.
The video spread on the internet like wildfire and netizens can’t stop thanking and praising the cops for their extraordinary efforts.
What's BBMP doing? Should they start managing traffic instead… They just loot public money and sulk in their offices without doing any work. @BBMPCOMM
— Hameed Pasha حمیدپاشا (@whitecrescent) October 1, 2019
It’s kind of sad to see that the cops have to do the job of the @bbmp ,
— Ghosh Surojit (@tjorus) September 30, 2019
@blrcitytraffic respect for doing this commendable job. But how safe is this fixation for 2 wheelers? The thin tyres of most of the sub 150 CC bikes would offer no road grip here. If they lose balance & God forbid a heavy vehicle in adjacence could cause casualties. @CPBlr
— Prabhath Bhat (@imprabhath) September 30, 2019
While we greatly appreciate the good work done by you all but by agreeing to do this you are letting the original culprits go free. Why not book FIRs against #BBMP officials for road mishaps and traffic pile ups caused by bad roads even a few arrests might be exemplary @CPBlr
— Anirban Choudhury (@AnirChoudhury) September 30, 2019
https://twitter.com/ksvijayabaskar/status/1178615529151418368?s=20
Great job by our traffic police..but shameful by BBMP.. @BBMP_MAYOR Ma’am please look into this
— Raghu GN (@RaghuTheRed) September 30, 2019
We salute the traffic cops for going out of their way to fix city roads.