BBMP fixes dug-up road

Citizens' backlash on social media over a dug-up patch of the main road in South Bengaluru prompted the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to attend to a problem that was ignored for almost a month.

Following an accident that nearly killed a motorist on Gubbala Main Road, off Kanakapura Road, local residents took to social media by tweeting the CCTV footage of the accident.

Shruthi, a resident, posted a tweet on January 19, tagging city police chief Bhaskar Rao. "A busy road was dug and left without any signs or barricade and this is what happened on the same night. A two-wheeler rider had no idea about the dug-up road and suffered a brutal fall on 17th January," she wrote.

She later posted the pictures of the injured motorist and said, "Helmet saved the rider, but was severely injured (sic)."

She urged Bengaluru police to take quick action considering that the road is used by thousands of people to reach Kanakapura Main Road. Changemakers of Kanakapura Road, a citizens' group, extended their support on Twitter.

Another resident tweeted: "I take the same route and no action has been taken since a few months. Water pipeline work taken up by the BWSSB on the same stretch had been completed long back and there is no proper road along the stretch."

Responding to the residents' grievances, P Manivannan, Principal Secretary, Information and Public Relations, flagged the problem to his department's call centre and directed them to inform the chief engineer concerned. Taking note of the problem, a docket number was issued immediately with contact details of the BBMP chief engineer for further coordination.

Officials visited the spot on Tuesday after the tweet that went viral on Sunday. When DH visited the spot, workers claiming to have been instructed by the BBMP were clearing the abandoned cables.