On Tuesday, the residents of Bharathi Nagar in Bengaluru performed a unique act of worship. The Charles Campbell Road near Cox town was their holy premise and deadly potholes, the subject of faith.
The act performed by the Resident Welfare Association was also to instill some amount of shame in the civic authority of the city who has largely turned a blind eye towards the deathly trap.
"Around 50,000 people use this road every day. We have seen motorcyclists skid and fall. There have been minor accidents, too, but the road has not been repaired for the last three years," N S Ravi of the Bharathinagar Residents' Forum told Deccan Herald newspaper.
According to reports, two priests were specially called to perform puja to the potholes, hoping to shame the civic body into asphalting the roads that have been endangering vehicle users.
A resident responding to the tweets about the event narrated her ordeal:
The residents of the areas surrounding the road have cried over the potholes for months but with severe rains in the last few months, the worsening situation has got them on the tenterhooks.
Pranay Nath, a Twitter user pointed out in September, "Charles Campbell road - a death trap for over a year. Will this ever be fixed. BBMP claims there are only 7272 potholes to be fixed. This road alone has that many potholes."
A Bangalore Mirror report in October highlighted, how the road is unfit and dangerous for senior citizens and children specifically.
"I have been here for the past seven years. Right around the corner from my shop, is a spot where I have been seeing two-wheeler riders fall, every week. People are getting hurt. Once a senior citizen fell and was hurt badly. The footpaths are also in a bad condition. No one can walk on those," the owner of a local medical shop told the paper.
