Woman fills up pothole that caused husband to crash

M Nagamani braved heavy traffic on Malleswaram 18th Cross to fix a spot that could cause loss of life and limb

A woman took it upon herself to fill a pothole in Malleswaram on Thursday after her husband met with an accident there.

M Nagamani, 52, took a bag of asphalt waste and a spade to the spot, and with some help, fixed it as best as she could. A video of her filling up the pothole has gone viral.

“Thankfully, my husband did not suffer major injuries. But who knows what could happen when he goes on the same road tomorrow?” she says.

Her husband, Narayanaswamy, 55, was heading back home from Srirampura on his scooter when he lost balance trying to avoid a pothole on 18th Cross. He fell and injured his back.

The BBMP has not attended to the potholes on the busy road for two years, she says. “No official has come forward to fix them. Tomorrow, I don’t want to wake up to the news of someone losing their life to the same pothole. I have a licence, but I’m scared to drive on these roads,” she told Metrolife.

She hopes her actions encourage the authorities to do their duty, and citizens to band together.

“My husband tried to help me fill the pothole, but couldn’t as his back was hurting,” she says. “If more people had joined me, I could have filled more potholes.”

Nagamani says dug-up footpaths are another problem. “Two footpaths near my house are dug-up. Where do the government agencies expect us to walk?” wonders the social activist.

Malleswaram residents have many pothole stories to tell. Mamatha K, 35, got a scare when her auto almost toppled on 18th Cross.

“I had picked up my six-year-old daughter from school when the auto jerked violently after it hit two consecutive potholes. She started crying,” she says.

The locality has many schools and a huge population of the elderly.

Where is all the money purportedly spent on the area going, she wondered.

Another resident says projects are left unfinished across Malleswaram, one of the older localities in the city.

“Take Sampige Road. We were so happy that the white-topping work was completed after months of delay. But the road has again been dug up. When I asked about it, they said they had forgotten to lay some pipe. This is how the BBMP works,” says Raja Shashidhar.

Things may not improve, he says, as people are afraid to speak up. “It is a legitimate fear. If you speak or protest, government officials hound you and mistreat you. No one wants to deal with this,” he says.

He hopes the elected officials take notice of the bad roads, before any lives are lost.

“Unlike MLAs who only visit once a while, corporators actually know what’s happening at the ground level. We just want the Malleswaram as it was four years ago, nothing fancy,” he says.

BBMP blames rain

Jayant Kumar, BBMP junior engineer (roads and infrastructure), says, “We’re not oblivious to the problems on 18th Cross. We’ve been receiving complaints from across Malleswaram. However, due to incessant rains, we haven’t been able to fill up the potholes."

Once we get two or three dry days, we will asphalt the whole road, he said.