Pothole deaths under-reported in Bengaluru; offenders go unpunished

The seven pothole-related deaths in 2022 have been the highest in the last two years when this form of road fatalities has been on the increase.

Data by the Bengaluru Traffic Police (BTP) has shown that pothole deaths remained just one in 2017 and relatively low with three fatalities in 2020, but it dramatically increased in 2021.

A BTP official from the South division told DH that roads have gone from bad to worse in the last two years.

“We alert the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials almost every day. However, they fail to take immediate action, resulting in such incidents. In many cases, when we see that the potholes are dangerous, our personnel voluntarily fill the potholes to avoid accidents,” a senior traffic police official said.

Officials also added that many pothole-related deaths may have gone unidentified.

“The data only includes cases where the FIR explicitly mentions that the cause of death was a pothole. There may be many other cases where officials from the BBMP are not named since our officials have a soft corner towards them as all of them are a part of the same system,” added another traffic official.

The argument has been backed by data since only one case has been reported so far in 2022, apart from the accident that happened last Monday. However, media reports point to at least three such incidents since January 2022.

Poor conviction rate

Though 13 such pothole-related deaths have been reported since 2017, the conviction rate is poor.

“None of them have been punished so far. Though they are named as one of the accused, many of the officials get away citing various reasons. While many say they were unaware of the pothole, others say they were in the process of filling it and a few others say they were not in charge of the particular job,” said Bhaskar Rao, senior IPS (Rtd) officer and former commissioner, Bengaluru City Police.

Senior BTP officials acknowledged that they faced difficulties in building a case with strong evidence since BBMP, BWSSB, and Bescom officials do not cooperate.