Jharkhand MLA Sits In A Pool Of Muddy Water To Protest The Poor Condition Of National Highway

An MLA from Jharkhand's ruling Congress party on Wednesday held a unique protest to highlight the poor condition of a national highway in the state.

Deepika Pandey Singh, the Congress MLA from Mahagama sat in a pool of muddy water on a stretch of a national highway in Godda district, protesting against its "poor condition" and demanding immediate repair of the road.

Twitter

MLA protesting against?poor condition?of road?

She also poured muddy water all over her, and vowed that she would not budge unless repair efforts are undertaken to fill up the "large potholes".

Singh said she has been demanding that repair be undertaken of the stretch of the highway for long, but assembly committee officials did not visit the spot.

Later, a war of words erupted between Singh and Godda MP Nishikant Dubey on Twitter over whether the stretch is under the jurisdiction of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) or the state government.

While this may be the first time an MLA has staged such a protest, people across India have been using creative ways to draw attention to the issue of potholes on the roads.

Creative ways to protest against potholes?

Recently a woman from Kerala held her pre-wedding photoshoot on a road that was full of potholes.

Earlier this month, Nityananda Olakadu a social worker from Karnataka was seen protesting against the pothole-riddled roads in Udupi by rolling around in it.

Olakadu recreated a ritual called "Urulu Seve" in which devotees roll on the ground of temples seeking blessings, on pothole-filed roads.

He even began his protest by breaking a coconut and conducting an?aarti?to the muddy potholes on the road.

In the state capital Bengaluru, which is also the tech hub, some residents in Bellandur area geo-tagged a pothole, naming it ‘Abizer’s pothole’ and captioned it as the ‘Historical landmark in Bengaluru, Karnataka’ on Google.

Last month a man from Kerala's Malappuram was seen performing yoga in a large water-filled pothole to bring attention to the poor condition of the road there.

Potholes kill

Potholes on roads have been a major cause of road accidents and death in India.

Road accidents caused by potholes led to the death of 5,626 people between 2018 and 2020, according to the latest government data.

According to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) data, the total number of road accident deaths due to potholes in 2018, 2019 and 2020 stood at 2,015, 2,140 and 1,471, respectively.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit?Indiatimes News.