BBMP’s ‘Fix Pothole’ mobile app ineffective, say residents

After heavy rains in Bengaluru early Monday, extensive waterlogging in many areas led to commuting difficulties.

Varghese Thomas, a resident of Sarjapur, mentioned that the waterlogging caused many office-goers and school children to stay at home. “It is impossible to drive. We have been writing to the authorities for a while now to fix the potholes. Now, the rain has made the situation worse,” he said.

Mithilesh Kumar, a volunteer at Citizens’ Movement East Bengaluru, argued that one cannot simply blame the heavy rain for such incidents. “The roads and slopes are not maintained, and the drainage pipes are clogged. This prevents water from reaching the drains, resulting in its accumulation on the road,” he observed.

To simplify the resolution of pothole issues, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) launched the Raste Gundi Gamana (Fix Pothole) mobile application in July. However, about two weeks after its launch, residents complained that the app does not fulfill its purpose, currently holding a 2.9 rating on the Google Play Store. The civic body claimed that the mobile application allows for a simple workflow: spotting a pothole, taking a picture, and posting it on the mobile platform through the citizen’s mobile phone.

Several residents expressed their dissatisfaction with the mobile application on X (formerly Twitter). One user wrote, “Raise any complaints, they will close it by blaming another department.” Another shared a screenshot of the app’s dashboard, commenting, “They don’t take any action; they reject the complaint.”

A user added, “Just create a complaint and wait forever. There is no timeline or any way to escalate. I don’t know why they create such apps when there is no one to take accountability.” Kumar acknowledged the potential of the application but noted, “The complaints raised are assigned to an engineer who then uploads a photo of some other filled pothole and closes the case.”

Another BBMP mobile app, Sahaya 2.0 (Namma Bengaluru), which has been around for a few years, also faces similar complaints. Srivatsa from iChange Hemmigepura, a resident welfare association (RWA), remarked, “We are raising several complaints on Sahaya. Nothing, except street light complaints, gets resolved.”

Sandeep Anirudhan from Namma Whitefield, another RWA, said that Sahaya has been unreliable because they generally mark a complaint as closed without resolution. “The app doesn’t have an option for the user to reopen a closed complaint or to escalate,” he added.