BENGALURU: A five-year-old girl sustained a major forehead injury after her mother failed to navigate her two-wheeler through the potholes and debris on Varthur-Gunjur Main Road, near Flour Mill, and skidded and fell. She was taking her daughter and son to Chrysalis High School early Wednesday morning. The incident came to light when a concerned citizen tweeted a picture of the injured girl and her brother.
Jagdish Reddy, a member of Varthur Rising, said the road has been in a pathetic condition for more than a year, despite constant complaints to the authorities. “The crossroad was dug up by the BWSSB, which started pipe-laying work, but was not fixed even after work was completed. It is appalling that a family had to get injured for the road to get fixed,” he said, adding that the family did not want to report the incident because the children were not wearing helmets.
Clearing up confusion among many parents about children wearing helmets, Ravikanthe Gowda, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic, said, “Whatever the age of the pillion rider, it is required that they wear a helmet for their own safety.”
Later in the evening, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner Anil Kumar, in a tweet acknowledged that it was unfortunate that a mother and child were injured because of the negligence of authorities. “The Engineer has been suspended for negligence. This is our zero-tolerance policy on maintaining roads and infrastructure... the BBMP has immediately asphalted this stretch,” he tweeted.
Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjuna added, “I will make sure that the money that the family spent on treatment is paid from the engineer’s pocket.” Though the potholes were fixed in the evening, many residents were not happy with the work. “This road has been fixed shoddily, without any levelling, I am sure it will not last even a week,” said a resident of Varthur.