India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, is grappling with the dual challenges of heavy rainfall and potholes, impacting the city’s residents and infrastructure. In light of the ongoing pothole crisis, a techie has proposed an innovative solution—developing an app to allow users to rate and review potholes.
Siva Narayanan, co-founder of expense management software Fyle, shared his idea on X (formerly Twitter), inviting collaboration from others who are interested.
Planning to build an app where we can rate and review potholes in Bengaluru. I recently saw a 7-star pothole and felt sad that it wasn't getting the recognition it deserved.
Who's in?
— Siva Narayanan (@K2_181) October 21, 2024
“Planning to build an app where we can rate and review potholes in Bengaluru. I recently saw a 7-star pothole and felt sad that it wasn’t getting the recognition it deserved. Who’s in?” Narayanan wrote. “This has kind of taken off. I don’t have anything to plug… Except maybe some potholes.”
After the techie’s pitch, netizens quickly weighed in with their reactions. While some joked about the concept, others provided constructive suggestions.
“Name it potluru,” a user proposed. Another user offered assistance, saying, “Let me know… if you need any help as well… will be happy to contribute! (sic)” One suggestion was to create “an overlay on potholes and post it to socials—something like GPS Camera—stamp app.”
Commenting on the humor of the situation, a netizen noted, “Your 7-star pothole can’t beat the sinkhole on the ORR service road near my place. The venerated monument has been duly marked by a tree branch in typical ‘luru style. I am going to hype it so much, the Ejipura Stonehenge is going to cry for attention.”
Another user chimed in with ideas like, “Wow…!! Can we also add ‘Pothole of the month’ feature and link the star rating with ‘tire damage ability’ of the pothole (sic)?” A suggestion for a “pothole selfie dhamaka” was made, with plans for daily uploads of the same spot, offering a gift hamper for the longest unfilled pothole.
One user humorously stated, “Not only in Bengaluru; however, we should collectively name all the potholes in the country as one. You know ‘unity in diversity.’ This will help in linking all the potholes to Aadhaar Cards of the residents living in that area or we can make Aadhaar Cards for potholes too.”
Others encouraged Narayanan to expand the app to different cities, emphasizing that there are many hidden “7-star gems” across the country. Requests poured in for similar solutions in places like Gurgaon and Mumbai, highlighting the widespread issue of potholes beyond Bengaluru.