No development, no tax, warn citizens tired of potholes

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: For years, the citizens have been trying various methods to drag the attention of the civic body, the local MLAs and ministers towards the poor road infrastructure in the city.

However realising that their pleas are falling on deaf ears, a few residents have taken it upon themselves to fix the broken roads in their localities.

Arif Mudgal, a 32-yearold techie, along with few others had started a group named 'Citizens Group, East Bengaluru', five years ago. On multiple occasions, the group had pooled in money by themselves and began to cover potholes in those areas.

The group would constantly reach out to the local MLAs and even panchayat officials to get roads pothole-free and fix other issues. However, the group ran out of money to continue the road work.

This is when Arif was forced to take a loan of Rs 2.7 lakh.

"I witnessed two road accidents in the Hosa Road area which prompted me to take up an initiative to fix the pothole problems here," Arif told News Trail on Monday.

He also mentioned the recent incident where a delivery agent suffered severe injuries after colliding headon with a car while negotiating a pothole on the night of August 14.

Later one of my neighbours sustained injuries when the auto-rickshaw she was travelling in toppled due to a pothole on Hosa Road, he said.

Despite repeated requests, complaints and protests by the citizens over the bad condition of roads, the civic apathy in the city continues to pose life-threatening risk to the motorists as well as the pedestrians here.

Concerned with the condition of the roads in Bengaluru getting worse day-byday, the 'Citizens Movement, East Bengaluru' on Sunday started a campaign, "No Development, No Tax."

It is aimed at boycotting payment of property tax due to substandard roads in Bengaluru. The increasing number of potholes in the city has made travelling a gruesome task.

Previously, a huge number of deaths were reported due to the poor condition of the roads. Through social media handles, the group has posted several pictures and videos of the broken roads in Mahadevapura, Halanayakanahalli and Hosa Road, venting their anger on the state government asking them to address those issues.

"Arif paid from his pocket and took a loan for the same! Who will pay his EMI? He is a salaried middle-class citizen with lots of liabilities. Just a love for Bengaluru won't feed his family," the group posted on the X, previously twitter, handle.

The group also shared a screenshot of monthly installments of Rs 12,375 which Arif has to pay for his loan amount.

One of the members of the group, Mithilesh Kumar said that a prominent reason behind the start of the "No Development No Tax" campaign was the lack of care from higher authorities to improve the road infrastructure in the area.

"Due to the apathy from Manjula Aravind Limbavali and Halanayakanahalli Panchayat, (they cry for funds!) the East Bengaluru repaired potholes on their own. One of our members, Arif Mudgal, paid Rs 2,74,000 from his pocket! Sir this is not why we voted for you!," the group further posted, tagging the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar in the post.

As the posts went viral on X, the comment section was flooded with responses from people appreciating the effort while criticising the BBMP and other authorities for inaction.