‘NASA to research moon craters in Bengaluru’: Netizen's joke on potholes

A meme on Bengaluru's potholes was well-received and managed to catch the eye of traffic cops, who urged the city's civic body to take action following multiple deaths and accidents this year.

Residents of Bengaluru tried a new way to get the attention of elusive officials from the city's local administrative body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) with regard to its crumbling infrastructure, potholes and accidents.

Potholes are a raging topic in Bengaluru, one of the biggest metropolitan cities of India. (Screengrab of Twitter video - @CitizenKamran)

Bengaluru's potholes have become infamous for causing multiple accidents and taking multiple lives this year. A concerned resident took the internet by storm after saying NASA scientists will soon arrive in Bengaluru to conduct research on moon craters that have appeared on Earth - referring to potholes.

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“NASA scientists to soon arrive in #Bengaluru for research on moon craters that just appeared on Earth. Location : #Hennur underpass on ORR. Dear @BBMPCOMM & @blrcitytraffic please put safety barricades here to protect this location for scientific research,” he tweeted.

The tweet has more than 400 likes and 130 retweets at the time this article was being written. While some found it absolutely hilarious, others echoed the concern hidden behind it, with a user saying, “@BJP4Karnataka Better put together team of non-political specialists and do something quickly for Bangalore. If not for people, do for your own re-election. The indifference towards Bangalore is quite baffling.”

“True - they need to keep a camera permanently to monitor the increase in crater both number and depth. Additionally they can also see water flooding frequently which will also dramatically increase the craters in newer areas,” another reply read.

The post also caught the attention of the Bengaluru traffic police, who replied and tagged BBMP heads and IAS officers Tushar Giri Nath, the chief commissioner and Rakesh Singh, the administrator of the body.

At the same time, there was yet another accident reported in the city due to a hole in the road on Tuesday. “An accident due to sanitary line creating a hole in the road. Bbmp fixed in mins. Bwssb need s to fix the sanitary line,” Vikram Mailar Vijay, associated with Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party, tweeted, while sharing a video.

In a similar instance, a 51-year-old woman was killed on Monday night after she fell off a scooter and came under a bus in Bengaluru, while she was riding pillion behind her daughter as they were trying to manoeuvre around a pothole.

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The BBMP is under fire for civic apathy as residents call for action to avoid such untoward incidents in the future. The body has also faced embarrassment after newly opened roads and flyovers are closed for repairs following the emergence of new potholes and road cave-ins.