Bengaluru: When petitions to civic authorities don’t yield action for months, citizens pick up a sandbag, bitumen and trowels, start fixing potholes and level off roads.Citizen activism has gone from online clicks and signing petitions to real-world civil work. Meet software engineer Uday S and his wife Ashwini P, from Sir M Visvesvaraya Layout in west Bengaluru. After three months of complaints and calls, the couple bought road-repair material and started filling potholes. They have spent Rs 10,000 so far.Their initiative is part of Bengalureans’ growing frustration with civic authorities. Uday had been raising complaints about roads in Visvesvaraya Layout with Bengaluru West City Corporation for months.The BDA layout was handed over to GBA in January. Though BDA informed the corporation about the transfer, residents said the potholes continued to remain a problem. Uday said the response was initially prompt when the commissioner was monitoring complaints through phone-in programmes. After April, getting through to officials became increasingly difficult. “I’ve contacted every official and engineer possible, many of whom have stopped receiving our calls,” he said.
Citizen fixes a pothole in Bengaluru
Uday travels from Kengeri to Whitefield three days a week. He has seen commuters fall and suffer injuries on Bengaluru’s battered roads. He is also a victim. With little action on the ground, Uday and Ashwini decided to take matters into their own hands and filled potholes in the night when traffic volume is thin.Getting material was a challenge. Dealers were reluctant to sell bitumen to individuals, with some asking for road contract documents or insisting on bulk purchases. Eventually, one dealer agreed to supply them with 10 bags of cold-mix asphalt, each weighing 10 kg and costing Rs 750. Including delivery, the couple’s bill came to nearly Rs 10,000.Now, Uday has started repairing roads in Rajajinagar, where his parents live.Patience wears thin, startup founder fixes Koramangala roadA startup founder in Koramangala got a broken footpath fixed after waiting for two months. Siddharth Dialani said he had raised complaints through GBA WhatsApp helpline, 1533 and by email to GBA chief commissioner, but saw no action on the ground. He spent Rs 2,700 to fix a stretch on Koramangala 3rd Block 8th Main. And his act went viral.Not just roads, entire system is broken: ActivistBengaluru Navanirmana Party founder Srikanth Narasimhan said civic apathy was a direct result of the absence of elected local representatives. He said the system itself — not just roads — is broken. “The city is suffering from a disease called ‘centralisation’.” Narasimhan has completed 25 reality-check walks under BNP’s ‘Freedom from Bad Roads’ initiative, covering multiple places in south and east Bengaluru. He has been receiving requests from across the city.
