A Bengaluru techie recently spotted a civic-tech initiative that is winning hearts online.
Sharing a screenshot of a website titled blr-potholes.pages.dev, the user, Shantanu Goel, posted a pothole’s geo-tagged image and wrote, “Someone created this with the intent to make the roads safer in Bengaluru. I hope they are not persecuted by the machinery instead. Also, this should be called a crater, not a pothole!”
Check out his post here:
The tool, anonymously built and currently open to the public, allows users to upload images of potholes and pin their exact location on a map of Bengaluru. While its creator remains unknown, the initiative has struck a chord with many Bengalureans frustrated by the city’s persistent pothole problem.
The platform ‘Bengaluru Live Potholes Map’, most likely aims to crowdsource road hazard data, offering a visual, real-time repository of unaddressed potholes across the city.
How did X users react?
Social media users hailed the project as a much-needed blend of civic activism and Bengaluru’s tech prowess. One user wrote, “Whoever created this earned my respect. These are the things we should be expecting out of Bengaluru and its strong dev presence.” Another remarked darkly, “He’s gonna disappear for mysterious reasons soon.”
Others suggested how to take it further. “I would love for a weekly report to be sent to the local municipal offices,” wrote a user. “I hope the respective officials see this and repair it, and then the person who made the app can mark them as fixed, that’s how it should be,” added another.
Some even called for scaling the idea across Indian cities to aid transparency and citizen-driven accountability.
As of now, it remains unclear whether civic authorities have taken note of the crowdsourced pothole tracker, but netizens love it.
DKS had det 15-day deadline to fix potholes
In 2024, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar had issued a stern 15-day ultimatum to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to fill all potholes across the city. The announcement was part of a public push to address the capital’s deteriorating road infrastructure.
“I asked the BBMP commissioner to fill all the potholes in Bengaluru in the next 15 days,” Shivakumar told reporters at the time. He noted that the civic body had identified 2,795 potholes and allocated ₹660 crore for the repair work. “Compared to previous years, people are now less affected due to rains,” he added, promising to personally inspect the city’s roads after the deadline.
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