Can you beat this? Potholes in cyberspace

Can you beat this? Potholes in cyberspace
This Website Will Record Your Complaints Against Bad Roads
The Times of India

Bangalore: Have you been potholed? The ‘hole’ thing is that there is no point cribbing and howling about it anymore.

A group of zesty Bangaloreans are set to create ripples in the cyberspace of IT City with this noveau contribution — a website called www.bangalorepothole.com was uplinked on Wednesday. Here, you can report a pothole in your locality, get to know the magnitude of the problem civic authorities face, why it’s impossible to fill potholes during monsoon, the history and origin of potholes (yes!) et al.

Should a citizen come across a pothole in any locality, she or he can take pictures of it or even just report it in meticulous detail. The webmaster has taken the responsibility of forwarding the details to various civic agencies.

Explains a ‘concerned citizen’ responsible for putting up the website (he does not wish to be named): “Apart from cribbing and crying, we as a people should become more responsible. The tone of the site and even the intention might seem tongue-in-cheek but we hope to achieve a purpose.’’
The idea is also a way of telling the rest of the world that it’s not just the IT janata who are bothered about bad roads and are demanding remedial measures.

“We also pay taxes. How can we differentiate between some people who deserve good roads and some others who don’t,’’ asks the webmaster. The reasoning is also that neither a blitz on infrastructure nor local finger-pointing can solve a community problem of rampant potholes.

“Real solutions can only come from a committed and co-operative effort by informed citizens, priorities have to be set.’’

Even when the ghost of the idea was flitting with the web-masters, they discovered that elsewhere in the world, potholes and bad road surfaces was a problem that rated high on priorities. For instance, in New York, there is a form on the department’s website that allows citizens to fill up the form listing the street, address, kind of problem (pothole, road caved in, snow-filled craters) and mail it. Apparently action would be taken in 24 hours! In yet another American city, if a citizen adopts a pothole she/he gets a certificate of recognition from the mayor.
Pity, potholes cannot be Bangalored!