6 Life-Threatening Potholes In The Country You Need To Be Aware Of

Potholes have become a part of our lives. So much so, that it's possible to count the number of good roads in the city that you live in on your finger tips. Simply because a good road is a rarity. Why is this so? Because corruption leads to construction of roads with inadequate raw materials, which in turn leads to fatal road accidents, and an unfortunate loss of lives.

If you think potholes are not that big an issue in a country plagued with a million others, here are some of the most dangerous potholes in the country. These have been responsible for inconvenience, accidents, cars breaking down, and sadly, a loss of lives.

1. Thane pothole that got a mother killed and a daughter arrested.

On July 26 2015, 26-year-old Priti Prasad was riding back home to King's Villa apartment in Ambernath (East), Thane, with her mother Reeta, 49, on the Kalyan-Karjat road when she suddenly came upon potholes near a Punjabi dhaba and lost control. Reeta unfortunately fell down and suffered head injuries. With the help of locals, she was rushed to a private hospital, where Reeta battled for life, and eventually passed away five days later. The road comes under MMRDA and was constructed just a year ago. Priti Prasad, who works with a multinational in Navi Mumbai, said after her mother died, she informed the local Shivaji Nagar police station of the incident and sought an FIR be filed against those responsible. But the police only filed an accidental death report and refused to file a complaint against any contractor. Two months on, Thane police, instead of filing a case against the contractors, booked Priti for rash driving and causing the death due to negligence, making her directly responsible for her mother's death.

Another of the many examples of cruel miscarriage of justice due to corruption, where a grieving daughter ends up being the accused! This speaks volumes about everything that is wrong with police administration in the country. Shameful.

2. Something strikingly similar happened in Bangalore as well.

Bangalore is another city that is notorious for having deadly potholes. Om Prakash Tripathi, and his 25-year-old wife Stuti Pandey Tripathi were on their way back after celebrating a festival on their two-wheeler when they came across Devarabeesanahalli flyover. Unable to avoid a deadly pothole on the flyover, the bike skid and fell. Stuti slammed her head on the road, and died a really sad death an hour later. However, although it is clear that the pothole was the killer in this case - as in many other cases before this - Stuti's grieving husband, Om Prakash Tripathi, was booked for causing her death due to negligent riding. The condition of the road has been the same for quite some time now.

3. A little over a year ago, the same pothole left two dead and many more.

On September 3, 2014, an accident left cab driver Shivu and his passenger, a techie named Ravindran dead. The latter's wife was also seriously injured in the accident. The speeding vehicle had rammed into the central median between the base of the flyover and the service road. However, in recording a first-of-its-kind case, the traffic police booked two BDA engineers for the deaths as it was their alleged negligence in failing to install adequate signs and reflectors that was understood to have led to the mishap.

Previous incidents in which potholes killed motorists in Banglaore include -

August 23, 2015: Nine-year-old Likith Gowda and his mother, Sunitha, died when the latter swerved her two-wheeler to avoid a huge pothole near SRS Circle on Tumkur Road and the duo was knocked down by a speeding bus from behind.

April 27, 2015: 13-year-old Shama Anjum and her one-year-old sister Ayam died when their mother attempted to manoeuvre the two-wheeler she was riding with them pillion around a large pothole on OTC Road near Ulsoorgate police station.

Dec 5, 2014: Two-and-a-half-year-old Dhanushree was crushed to death by a lorry on Hoodi main road when her uncle hit a pothole and lost control of the two-wheeler he was riding, resulting in the lorry ramming into them from behind and running over the child.

July 23, 2013: Lakshmidevi, a native of Ananthpur district in Andhra Pradesh, died after being knocked down by a Tamil Nadu-bound bus on SJP Road near Hudson Circle when the driver of the bus tried to skirt a huge pothole and ran over the victim as she was crossing the road.

Mar 14, 2012: 51-year-old Jayan was run over by a speeding truck and killed after falling from his bike when he encountered a pothole at Pantharapalya on Mysore Road.

4. WTF point of the story: Authorities in MP filled up a pothole with a man inside it!

Exactly. WTF is going on? A 45-year-old man fell into a pothole at an under construction road, and got killed after callous labourers filled that pothole with hot bituminous material and constructed road over him in Madhya Pradesh. The issue came to light after local villagers noticed his arm on the road surface. Angry villagers cleared the road block only after senior police officials intervened and assured action against the construction company. The victim was most likely intoxicated, but is that reason enough for his life to be taken in this way?

5. BJP worked towards development of roads in Delhi, but not really.

BJP promised Delhites better roads, and they delivered. So what if it's only for the pictures? Sadly, their Photoshop game was so mediocre, that even the tech-novice Delhi HC bench could make out it wasn't real. The SDMC and the DDA came under the scanner of the Delhi High Court after both submitted some Photoshopped images of streets in New Delhi's Dwarka that were practically wiped clean of all potholes. And again, WTF!

6. The artist who couldn't take it anymore, started making art using the potholes in Bangalore.

Possibly the only positive point of the story here. Fed up with the potholes in the city he lives in, Baadal Nanjundaswamy, 36, a visual artist from Bangalore, turned a gigantic pothole on the Sulthanpalya Main Road in the city into a living ground for a life-sized crocodile. The reason behind this was to attract the attention of civic authorities towards a 12-feet long depression and a broken water pipe on the street, both of which were making commuting difficult. Funniest is that even though the installation attracted the attention of hundreds of people passing by, the civic authorities couldn't give a damn about it.