BENGALURU: The recent death of a 30-year-old commuter after his motorcycle got entangled in a dangling roadside cable near the Vidhana Soudha has once again brought to attention Bengaluru’s growing civic safety crisis. Citizens, activists and urban experts have warned that loose overhead wires, dilapidated infrastructure and poor coordination among agencies are turning parts of the city into “death traps”.
Besides hanging cables, damaged manholes, pothole-filled roads and poor street lighting also continue to pose serious risks to pedestrians and two-wheeler riders across Bengaluru despite repeated complaints to the authorities, the activists said. “It’s a death trap everywhere,” said Prakash Nedungadi, the treasurer of Aam Aadmi Party in Karnataka. “We have overhead wires above us and potholes below us. Whether they are riders or pedestrians, people are constantly at risk.”
Nedungadi said citizens frequently report loose wires, damaged pavements and broken manholes, but corrective action often remains temporary. He called for regular safety audits across wards, identification of hazard zones and quicker response mechanisms to remove dangerous infrastructure. “Walk around for one kilometre in any street and you will see wires hanging everywhere,” he said.
Civil activist Vinay Srinivas said the issue reflects deeper governance failures within Bengaluru’s urban administration. “The cables are symptomatic of the mess that Bengaluru’s urban governance is in,” he said, adding, “There are multiple agencies involved, but there are very few people to take responsibility.”
According to Srinivas, poor coordination between civic bodies, utility agencies and private operators has made corrective measures difficult. He added that inquiry reports following accidents are rarely made public and stressed the need for both citizen-led and government-led safety audits.
Civic activist Vinod Kartavya alleged that poor coordination among agencies such as GBA, BWSSB, BESCOM and telecom operators has allowed unregulated cabling to spread across several localities.
Kartavya pointed to localities such as Cubbonpet, Cottonpet, Sultanpet and Avenue Road, where numerous overhead cables can be seen dangling over the streets. “You cannot even see the sky, that many cables are there,” he said, adding that unused cables are often left hanging after connections are discontinued. He urged the authorities concerned to implement underground cabling systems across the city, citing TenderSURE and Smart City roads as successful examples.
Vijayakumar Haridas, Chief Engineer of the Bengaluru Central City Corporation, said the issue would be inspected and the hanging cables in the area would be cleared within two days. He said underground cable ducts already exist on several roads developed under TenderSURE and Smart City projects, and operators should use those facilities instead of overhead cables.
Activists and experts say the accident near Vidhana Soudha should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to prioritise civic safety and accountability before more lives are lost to preventable urban hazards.