Filling Potholes, Changing Tyres: The Good Cops of Karnataka

The Karnataka Police: Restoring faith in humanity, one pothole at a time.

If the stories of corruption, apathy and ineptitude are all you read about policing in India, a few Karnataka cops offer a breather. (Photo: The Quint)

In Karnataka, traffic cops and the local police are social media’s newest sensations. The cops go beyond the call of duty to help people and have often been liked, shared, appreciated and hailed on Facebook and Twitter. If the stories of corruption, apathy and ineptitude are all you read about policing in India, these Karnataka cops will come as a pleasant surprise.

Local police trying to clear the drains during recent flooding in Bengaluru (Photo Courtesy: DCP Abhishek Goyal’s Twitter)

On the fateful morning of 29 July, when a boat appeared on Bengaluru roads and citizens came together to catch fish at a traffic junction as the nearby lake was flooded, the cops at the BTM signal got together to clear the drains. With their pants folded up and shoes set to the side, the local cops said they had, “no time to wait for concerned authorities to take action.”

In Mumbai, potholes caused a political frenzy this year. In Bengaluru, in a case of morbid irony, citizens are charged with negligent driving in the case of pothole-related accidents.

At Graphite India Junction, one of Bengaluru’s worst traffic-affected areas, potholes were cause for much misery. Motorists, unable to ride on pothole-ridden roads, rode on the footpaths instead, almost colliding with pedestrians. Traffic warden Manju Mehra witnessed this for weeks. When several complaints to the municipal corporation fell on deaf ears, she bought a few sacks of cement and with the help of some locals, and filled the potholes herself.

There were two potholes, around 30cm deep, which were making bikers skid. Some riders used to ride on the footpath, inconveniencing pedestrians. We filled the potholes with cement that we got from locals. 

Manju Mehra to <i>The New Indian Express</i>

Commercial areas around traffic junctions and ceaseless construction in the city ensure that trucks loaded with goods and construction material are a perennial presence. Unloading trucks are the most common cause for traffic jams on the roads.

At Sarjapur Signal in Bengaluru last week, a traffic cop climbed up a tar truck and helped it unload swiftly, gauging that a delay would result in a jam kilometres long.

Bengaluru even has its own Singham, the Bollywood top cop who is honest and charismatic. Traffic constable Bhaskar, who always greets you with a smile, is a social media star for his smooth and efficient traffic management. Wherever he is posted, fans stop and greet him before proceeding; so much so that he has his own fan page on Facebook with hundreds of likes and selfies with commuters.

It is reward enough when the public talks to us and appreciates us... People are under the misconception that the entire police force is corrupt. I want to change that.

Bhaskar to <i>TOI</i>

Here are some heartwarming stories of cops that went viral on the Internet.

A traffic cop helping a de-funct auto move to a side of the road. (Photo: BTP Facebook Page)

A traffic cop in B’luru replacing a deflated tyre for a senior citizen (Photo: CJ/News.18)

Traffic Cop Lakshminarayan KC got social media acclodes for managing the traffic in eight hours of relentless rain. (Photo: BTP Facebook Page)

Traffic cops in Bluru surprised helmet-wearing citizens by gifting them plants (Photo: Traffic Warden Manju’s Twitter)