"Dad, Mom Pay Taxes": Bengaluru Children Flag Potholes To PM, Siddaramaiah

Little residents of a Bengaluru neighbourhood have written a poem addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, addressing them as thatha (grandpa) and highlighting the poor condition of roads in the neighbourhood.

"Modi thatha, Siddaramaiah thatha, why is our road like this? Everywhere you look, it's full of potholes, rocks and mud," the letter by children from Judicial Layout near Kanakapura road reads.

"Dad pays taxes, mom pays taxes, but everywhere you look, there are holes, rocks, and mud. They pay tax on petrol, tax on diesel, tax on cars, but everywhere you look, there are holes, rocks, and mud," the children have written in Kannada.

"Modi thatha, Siddaramaiah thatha, when will you fix our road? Children waiting for a good road," they have said before signing off.

Residents of the area have been trying everything possible to draw the authorities' attention to the dismal condition of roads. Earlier, they had put potted plants near the many potholes in a unique demonstration to capture the attention of civic authorities. An elderly man also sat inside a pothole during the demonstration.

According to the residents, the area has been without proper roads or streetlights for over a year and a half now. Their repeated requests for basic civic amenities have gone unheard, they alleged.

The area comes under the newly formed Greater Bengaluru Authority, which has taken over from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palika after an administrative overhaul for better management of civic amenities in rapidly growing Bengaluru. NDTV has reached out to local authorities for a response to the Judicial Layout situation.