A video of water spewing out of a hole in the middle of the road in Bengaluru has gone viral on social media. In the video, it appeared that the road had cracked and a hole was formed in the road in Nagarabhavi area after a water pipeline that ran beneath the road had burst. A video shared by a Bengaluru resident showed water being sprayed out the hole even as commuters went past it on the busy road. A makeshift barricade and some plants were put up around the hole by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), and a note on the barricade read “Work in Progress Drive Slowly.”
Since bad roads are a habitual sight in Bengaluru, Twitter users highlighted the incident with a humorous tone. One user wrote, “Nagarabhaviyallondu Hosa Bhavi” (a new well in Nagarabhavi. Bhavi means a well in Kannada). The user further wrote, “You might have seen sink-holes in city. But a sink-hole with a fountain is new innovation by @bwssbchairman and team. @chairmanbwssb should thank @BBMPCOMM too for collaboration."
ನಾಗರಬಾವಿಯಲ್ಲೊಂದು ಹೊಸ ಬಾವಿ..
— Anantha-Infinity (@Ananthaforu) November 4, 2021
You might have seen sink-holes in city. But a sink-hole with a fountain is new innovation by @bwssbchairman & team. @chairmanbwssb should thank @BBMPCOMM too for collaboration. #Nagarabhavi. #Bwssb #CivicApathy#Bengaluru pic.twitter.com/ObTlVMJ6cy
TNM reached out to a BSWWB official for an update on the hole and whether it has been fixed. A response is awaited. BWSSB has been often criticized for roads getting waterlogged often due to faulty underground pipelines. In December 2020, residents of Whitefield had complained that the road repair work had been halted after a BWSSB water pipeline had burst and inundated that road. At the time, a BWSSB official had said that “one should understand that in Bengaluru, the development works keep happening and if the excavation is constantly done in and around the same area, the soil gets loosened and shifting pipes causes leakages. All the pipes are underground and a leak somewhere else could result in a water leak in another area.”
Last month, after heavy rains lashed the city a portion of the road on the Bengaluru-Mysuru highway caved in near a pillar of the Jnanabharathi Metro station. The metro station was part of a 7.5 km line that runs up to Kengeri as part of Phase two of the Bengaluru Metro. At the time, officials of the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said that there was no structural damage reported to the ongoing metro works and that the sinkhole was later filled.