Southern Slice | In India's Silicon Valley, Penguin in Pothole a Reminder of Flightless Plans to Plug 'Death Trap'

The visual of a penguin inside a pothole to highlight the state of India’s Silicon Valley may have caught the eye of social media users, but the real issue of potholes and bad roads being a death trap continues to haunt the IT city.

Civic authorities responsible for repairs of pothole-ridden, damaged roads make promises with deadlines — like the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) did of filling all potholes by November 15 — and do not deliver.

The apathy is such that the only people who make it to the ‘deadline’ are those who end up losing their precious lives in a ‘pothole-related’ accident.

Let’s face it, potholes and bad roads are a menace and a nagging issue in every city. According to statistics, a large number of road accident deaths in the country are caused by bad roads when people lose control of their vehicles while navigating around potholes.

Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru are among the cities that top in pothole or open manhole deaths. A 2018 NCRB report states that a chunk of the total accident deaths in the country are due to potholes.

Let’s begin with Bengaluru, which saw the most recent pothole-related death. At least nine people have lost their lives owing to potholes since October 2021.

On November 14, Mahesh fell off his two-wheeler while navigating a pothole. He lost his balance and died under the wheels of an oncoming tractor. A student lost his life after being hit by a car when the driver tried to avoid a water-filled pothole on October 29. In the same month, a lady scooterist came under a bus and died when she lost her balance while manoeuvring around a pothole. In Mumbai, a 37-year-old bike rider died in Thane when he was crushed under a bus after hitting a pothole.

With the second-largest road network in the world, India ranks third in road accidents where 4,80,652 road accidents have claimed 1,50,785 lives. A large number of these deaths were caused due to potholes.

The term ‘Pothole Death’ is unheard of in other countries and is peculiar to India. Many times, accident deaths are labelled ‘death due to negligent driving’, putting the onus on the victim. Is it not government negligence that killed all the victims mentioned above?

Poor quality of construction, lack of maintenance and regular repair work, contractor-authority nexus and callous attitude of the lawmakers and officials cause potholes.

But have you ever heard of an official or politician being penalised for bad roads or pothole-related deaths in his area? Would he/she ever be charged with criminal conspiracy? Well, it may have brought in a bit more accountability, but we have a long, long way to go. While courts have been flooded with PILs regarding the problem of potholes or have taken up cases suo motu, only a few erring contractors and officials face legal punishment while many more walk scot-free.

Coming back to Bengaluru. The BBMP now seems to have become immune to the taunts and jibes of the public. It blames the incessant rains and flooding for the appearance of potholes — not the sub-standard material used to lay roads or the bad patchwork done when the issue becomes a raging public debate.

The real problems that dig a huge hole in road repair work are corruption, structural inadequacy, bad engineering, and lack of accountability.

Having spoken about the issue, one should also talk about the innovative ways the pothole issue has been highlighted on social media. Apart from having a good sense of humour, Bengaluru certainly tops in terms of innovation, implementation and creativity to highlight these death traps.

A popular social media user not only Google-mapped a pothole and referred to it as ‘Abizer’s Pothole’ in the Bellandur area of Bengaluru, but also had mock reviews from dedicated citizens.

Last year, a popular theatre actor wore a silver space suit and moon-walked down a street avoiding the ‘big craters’. Karnataka’s famous visual artist Baadal Nanjundaswamy, who has been actively working on highlighting this perennial problem, has created some unique installations. From a fibre crocodile which he left swimming on a water-logged pothole, the mouth of ‘Yamaraj’ (God of Death) to having a live installation of a model dressed as a mermaid with her tail spread on a pothole, he has had social media in splits with his viral pictures.

Clearly, the solution lies in the four Cs — Commitment, Conviction, Conscience and Civic Engagement but will they all ever align?

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