Video: Bengaluru School Van Stuck In Open Drain As Civic Mess Continues

In yet another incident of civic mess in Bengaluru, a school minivan got stuck in an open drain this morning. The accident occurred on the Panathur-Bellandur road when the minivan was carrying students to a school in Doddanekundi.

A video shows one of the tyres stuck in the drain with students inside the minivan. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The school administration is now investigating whether the driver was at fault.

Last week, a school bus carrying children nearly toppled after slipping into slush on a Bengaluru road, which has long been in a poor and pothole-ridden condition.

A dashboard camera footage in the car behind the bus shows the driver attempting to overtake another school bus from the left on the Balagere Main Road. In the process, the vehicle carrying about 20 students veered slightly off the road, causing one of its tyres to sink into the soft ground. The bus tilted and almost toppled over on one side.

Locals rushed to the spot and quickly opened the emergency exit door, safely evacuating all the children onboard. No student or the driver was injured in the incident.

Many residents held a massive protest, holding placards on which "refund tax, we will build our city" was written.

"That is the only way out because we pay the highest tax. Each of our flats is about Rs 2 crore in this area. But we are not getting the infrastructure we deserve," a resident told NDTV.

Another resident said the road has been in this condition for "forever".

Congress Faces Criticism For Poor Condition Of Roads

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah-led Congress government is facing criticism for the poor condition of roads in Bengaluru.

A logistics firm CEO recently announced that the company had decided to shift its office out of the city's Outer Ring Road due to potholes and traffic snarls.

"ORR (Bellandur) has been our "office + home" for the last 9 years. But it's now very-very hard to continue here. We have decided to move out," Rajesh Yabaji, the CEO and co-founder of logistics firm BlackBuck, posted on X on Tuesday.

Citing the reasons behind the decision, he said, "Average commute for my colleagues shot up to 1.5+ hrs (one way). Roads full of potholes and dust, coupled with the lowest intent to get them rectified. Didn't see any of this changing in the next 5 years."

Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, however, has said that Bengaluru is growing rapidly, and the Karnataka government will ensure that no company leaves the IT capital over infrastructure-related issues.

Speaking to NDTV on Thursday, Mr Shivakumar, the minister for Bengaluru Development and Town Planning, said the city "has become too big, so more needs to be done".

"To meet these demands, we formed five corporations. And for bigger projects, we decided to bring in the Greater Bengaluru Authority," he said.

Mr Shivakumar said many areas in the city that house the "IT crowd" -- meaning techies -- are still under panchayats and not the Greater Bengaluru Authority yet, complicating civic response. "We are trying to bring them under GBA. There are big challenges, and we have formed a separate corporation for this area to fix the problems."