Yet another motorist falls prey to pothole

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: Once again, a pothole-related accident has occurred in the city where one person was killed and two were injured. The incident took place early Saturday in Attur Layout, located in Yelahanka. The deceased has been identified as Harshad (24), a student of a private college in the city. He hails from Kerala.

The accident happened when Harshad’s was riding a bike. A car hit his bike while trying to negotiate a pothole. The cops have said that there were three potholes along the stretch of over 100 metres. After the wet spell on Saturday evening, the potholes got filled with rainwater, making it difficult for the car driver to notice them.

He lost control of the vehicle and hit Harshad’s bike that was coming in the opposite direction. The car driver and the pillion rider are also grievously injured and are said to be in a critical condition. The Congress party took to Twitter to call out the accident and said that Harshad was the third person falling victim to the ‘pothole menace’ in Bengaluru, in a span of mere 30 days.

“The government has not woken up despite continuous deaths and warnings by the High Court. It has a skin thicker than that of a buffalo,” it said. Pothole deadline Meanwhile, BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath has given a deadline to the engineers to cover the potholes in the city by November 5.

Although the rains have subsided for the past week, the corporation has failed to close the potholes. Seeing the lackadaisical attitude of the officials, the chief commissioner has issued an order giving a deadline of November 5 to close the potholes on the roads. An office circular was issued that all levels of engineers of the road and infrastructure department have been given a deadline to complete the work on time.

In this regard, the Principal and Chief Engineers have been informed that their subordinate engineers, executive Engineers, assistant executive engineers and assistant engineers should be given the task to complete the work. Girinath also informed that a notice will be issued on November 6 to the officials who failed to close the potholes within the time limit.

“Clarification of failure to act with appropriate reasons must be given within five days of this notice. In this case, it has been warned that disciplinary action will be taken against such officers as per state civil service rules if it is found that they have failed to close the roadblock due to negligence,” said Girinath.