20 children were rescued after a school bus got stuck in a pothole on Panathur Main Road, reigniting concerns over Bengaluru’s crumbling roads and citizen safety.
Bengaluru’s notorious pothole problem turned frightening on Friday morning when a school bus carrying around 20 children fell into a massive pothole near Panathur Main Road, within the DCP East traffic limits. Dashcam footage from a trailing vehicle captured the chilling moment, the bus slowly tilted and got stuck in the waterlogged stretch before passersby rushed in to help. Fortunately, all children were safely rescued through the back door of the bus, but the incident has sent shockwaves across the city.
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The near-tragedy has amplified public anger at the state of Bengaluru’s roads, coming just days after Public Works Minister DK Shivkumar admitted that the city has nearly 10,000 potholes. Concerned parents and residents say the latest incident is a wake-up call that the problem can no longer be ignored.
Meanwhile, in what could be a game-changer, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has rolled out an in-house pothole monitoring software. The platform integrates civic bodies like BMRCL, NHAI, BWSSB, BESCOM, KPTCL, BDA, PWD, and KRDCL on one dashboard to streamline road repair work. BBMP Chief Engineer (Road Infrastructure) Raghavendra Prasad said the system allows agencies to upload photos and locations of repairs for instant verification.
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As of August 24, BBMP has fixed 1,112 of the 3,870 potholes identified in a Bengaluru Traffic Police survey. The software even color-codes potholes, green for repaired, yellow for pending, allowing citizens to track progress in real time. Engineers have also been instructed to follow Indian Road Congress standards to ensure lasting repairs.