City Pulse

Bengaluru’s fame as an IT capital, garden city, pensioner’s paradise is now being overshadowed by the overwhelming number of potholes. Both the city dwellers and the visitors now seem to have accepted this nightmarish civic apathy as the inevitable price of development.

Prathap Bhimasena Rao, a former Indian Airforce pilot was deeply troubled when his friend lost his daughter due to a pothole-accident. So he researched to find a solution to this never-ending issue and came up with “Pothole Raja”, an initiative that encourages people to identify potholes via Whatsapp and also take up repairs on their own.

Explaining about Pothole Raja, Prathap tells Team ICMyC that anyone who spots a pothole can Whatsapp the image and location to 814POTHOLE (the letters correspond with the numbers 7684653).

Prathap then under the aegis of his company Ground Reality Enterprise tries to arrange funds and mobilize people to take up the repair work. Since the last one and half year, more than 300 potholes, all over the city have been fixed by Pothole Raja.

Prathap explains that he uses cold asphalt for the fix. Unlike the hot asphalt which needs to be used within 3 to 4 hours, a 50 kg bag of cold asphalt mix can be stored for 10 months. Fixing potholes with cold asphalt is neither very labour-intensive nor does it require any particular skill. Filling the pothole with the right amount of asphalt and running a car over the area will help stabilize the fix. It costs about Rs 2500 to fill one square metre up to 50 mm depth, he says.

Pothole Raja relies on CSR funding and Employee Engagement Initiatives to identify, fund and fix potholes. Prathap is also trying to empower the transgender community by involving them in the Pothole Raja campaign. As of now, Prathap has help from 4 members of the community on rotational basis. “It is a wonderful opportunity for an alternative employment,” he says.

Once a person messages 814POTHOLE, the complaint is uploaded on www.potholeraja.com. People can have a live view of the pothole as well as the status of the work.

Speaking of his vision, Prathap says that he intends to make Bengaluru pothole free and fix new potholes within three days.

And finally, speaking on why he chose the name Pothole Raja, he says “Whoever strives to make his/her neighbuorhood better is a Raja or Rani in true sense”.

About Prathap

Prathap Bhimasena Rao is a former Indian Airforce pilot who shifted to corporate life after a crash. He started his ‘social enterprise’ after a stint as the global vice-president of a multinational. He is the Founder and CEO of Ground Reality Enterprises. Prathap also teaches at institutions like IIM Bangalore and MS Ramaiah.