Bengaluru: A 32-year-old woman was fatally run over by a commercial vehicle after the motorcycle she was riding lost control while avoiding a pothole in Bengaluru’s Hebbagodi locality.
The woman, Medha, a central government employee, was riding pillion on the motorcycle that was being driven by her colleague.
The Kerala native’s life was cut short in an accident highlighting the treacherous road conditions that the 1.4 crore residents in India’s IT capital endure every day. Wednesday’s accident led to a war of words between the ruling Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Karnataka.
Residents in Ananthnagar, around the Hebbagodi locality, said that the authorities had dug up the road to lay pipelines and filled it up without asphalting the road, resulting in deep craters.
“This is the fourth time this year that the road is getting repaired. There are big problems and senior citizens can barely move on that road. People keep coming and assuring to get the work done, but no one comes to help but comes only to seek votes,” a resident told reporters Thursday.
According to official data, the Bengaluru administration identified 41,150 potholes till March of which it claimed to have fixed over 39,000. However, most of these measures have led to short-term relief as most roads in Bengaluru remain in dismal conditions.
Bengaluru has reported the most number of deaths caused by the negligence of civic bodies among Indian cities for the sixth consecutive year, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for 2024. Bengaluru recorded 17 such deaths due to negligence of civic agencies as against Delhi’s four. Before this, the Karnataka capital reported 20 deaths in 2023, 22 in 2022, 31 in 2021, 18 in 2020 and 49 in 2019.
Of the 19 Indian cities in the NCRB data, no other city—including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata—recorded a single death in this category. However, all reported deaths were placed under the separate classification of ‘other negligence’.
What compounded the problems for the D.K. Shivakumar-led Congress government is the justification given by a state minister.
“There could be chances that there was some pothole. So, just because there is a pothole does not mean that the entire infrastructure (is such)… that we have not spent money. We have spent money,” Santosh Lad, the newly-inducted labour minister, told reporters.
The minister went on to blame the BJP for the poor conditions of roads in Bengaluru and other parts of the country.
The BJP, at one time, was in power in the centre, state and the city but the condition of roads, including national and state highways, was poor, he said. “If they had made the best of roads, then today these roads would not have been in such a condition.”
The BJP hit out at the Congress-ruled government over the lapses. “Another innocent life has fallen victim to Bengaluru’s potholes! Bengaluru district-incharge minister Krishna Byre Gowda and CM D.K. Shivakumar, how many more lives must be sacrificed to your gross administrative failure? Can’t you set aside the commission-hunting in the name of ‘Brand Bengaluru’ and at least provide roads fit for driving?” it posted on its official X handle.
ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ರಸ್ತೆ ಗುಂಡಿಗೆ ಮತ್ತೊಂದು ಅಮಾಯಕ ಜೀವ ಬಲಿಯಾಗಿದೆ!
ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ಉಸ್ತುವಾರಿ ಕೃಷ್ಣ ಬೈರೇಗೌಡ ಹಾಗೂ ಸಿಎಂ ಡಿ.ಕೆ. ಶಿವಕುಮಾರ್ ಅವರೇ, ನಿಮ್ಮ ತೀವ್ರ ಆಡಳಿತ ವೈಫಲ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಇನ್ನೆಷ್ಟು ಪ್ರಾಣಗಳು ಬಲಿಯಾಗಬೇಕು? 'ಬ್ರ್ಯಾಂಡ್ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು' ಹೆಸರಲ್ಲಿ ಕಮಿಷನ್ ಹೊಡೆಯುವುದನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಕನಿಷ್ಠ ಓಡಾಡಲು ಯೋಗ್ಯವಾದ ರಸ್ತೆ ಕೊಡಲು… pic.twitter.com/Qc4VuBiTlY
— BJP Karnataka (@BJP4Karnataka) August 13, 2026
The corruption and negligence, the opposition party said, were turning Bengaluru’s roads into “death traps”.
Later, Lad condemned those who were using a tragic loss of life to “make politically motivated and sweeping claims about the city’s infrastructure”.
The tragic loss of a woman in a road accident while trying to avoid a pothole in Hebbagodi, Bengaluru, is deeply unfortunate. I express my heartfelt condolences to her family.
It is unfortunate to see a tragic loss of life being used to make politically motivated and sweeping… pic.twitter.com/UNNCmXuvuL
— Santosh Lad Official (@SantoshSLadINC) August 13, 2026
“My remarks were only in response to questions on roads constructed during the BJP’s tenure. I have never politicised the death of an innocent woman, nor will I ever do so,” he said.
The government, the minister said, stands with the bereaved family and will extend all possible support during this difficult time.
(Edited by Tony Rai)