At least 25 persons were injured, including four in critical condition, after a Karnataka Road Transport Corporation bus hit a metro pillar in Bengaluru late in the night on Monday, May 9. It has been reported that the bus driver was trying to avoid a pothole on the Bengaluru-Mysuru Highway, but lost balance and had to swerve, thereby crashing into the metro pillar.
The incident took place near Kengeri in Bengaluru at 1 am and the injured were shifted to nearby hospitals. According to the police, the bus had first hit the 4-feet tall road divider and then rammed into the Namma Metro Pillar number 545. The bus was travelling to Bengaluru from Madikeri. The damage to the metro pillar is being assessed. Police said that a total of 45 persons were travelling on the bus.
If not for the metro pillar, the bus would have gone to another side of the highway and collided with a vehicle coming from the opposite side, which would have led to a greater tragedy, the police added.
After the accident, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said that the metro pillar suffered some superficial scratches, and there has not been any structural damage.
"During the early hours of 09th May 2022 on Mysuru Road, a KSRTC bus crashed on the median, handrail's and crash-barrier of Pier No 545 between Jnanabharathi and Pattanagere Metro Station. The site was inspected by Senior BMRCL Officers and it was found that there were only superficial scratches on Pier No 545 without any structural damages as crash barrier have been provided on all Piers," a statement from BMRCL said.
"Metro Operations are safe as the impact due to the above accident has not affected any of the assets of Metro except for damage to median and steel railings," the statement added.
Bengaluru’s potholes have been a great nuisance to the public, and have claimed lives in the past as well. In March, 27-year-old Ashwin, a private company employee, was driving back home at night when he fell off his two-wheeler because of a pothole and succumbed to injuries later. There was no street light on the road, and Ashwin had lost balance of the two-wheeler.
On November 27 last year, a food delivery agent was riding his gearless scooter when he fell down after encountering a pothole and was run over by a truck. Earlier in October 2021, a teenage girl was killed after she fell from her scooter near Kachohalli Cross on Magadi Road and a truck ran over her, killing her on the spot.
A plea has also been filed in the Karnataka High Court over the pothole menace, and the High Court has pulled up the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike multiple times over the terrible condition of roads in the city. Last month, the HC expressed its dissatisfaction with the civic body for the delay in issuing work orders despite the survey identifying roads in need of immediate repair. The bench observed that in view of the pre-monsoon showers, some stretches needed urgent attention.
"First you blame traffic, then you blame infrastructure, then the rains, for years together, and other agencies. What is left for you to blame, how many people will you go on passing the buck to? We just want the roads to be repaired and you are not getting the work started..." the HC had said.
With IANS inputs