Highway Murders - The Fury Roads of Mangaluru!

  •   Fri, Sep 12 2025
  •   By Ankith S Kumar

September 12, 2025

Mangaluru, once celebrated as the gateway to coastal Karnataka, is now making headlines for all the wrong reasons. The city’s roads, once the pride of a rapidly developing hub, have turned into death traps. What was once a matter of minor inconvenience has now become a full-blown public safety crisis, with lives, livelihoods, and the city’s reputation on the line.

The Daily Obstacle Course

Commuting through Mangaluru is no longer about getting from point A to B. It is about survival. Whether you are navigating through Kankanady, Pumpwell, Nanthoor, or Kulur, every few meters you’re greeted with a pothole — some shallow, some so deep they can swallow an entire scooter wheel.

Two-wheeler riders are the most vulnerable. One wrong swerve or a hidden pothole under rainwater can send them skidding into traffic. For car drivers, broken rims, misaligned suspensions, and frequent repairs have become the new normal. During monsoons, when these craters fill with water, they turn into invisible traps — impossible to judge until it’s too late.

When Potholes Claim Lives

This is no longer just an “inconvenience.” It is costing lives. On September 9, 2025, Madhavi, a 44-year-old lab technician, tragically lost her life after her scooter skidded into a pothole near Kulur on NH-66, and she was run over by a truck. Just months earlier, another man, Ashraf, died in a similar manner near Baikampady.

Citizens and activist groups are angry — and rightfully so. The Action Committee Against Toll Gate has demanded criminal action against NHAI officials for their failure to maintain the highway despite collecting tolls. This isn’t the first time such demands have been made, and yet, year after year, lives continue to be lost.

Negligence Has Become the Norm

Every year, crores of rupees are allocated for road development, repair, and drainage upgrades. Yet, the quality of the work remains abysmal. The roads are patched up hastily before a minister’s visit or a public protest, only for the patchwork to give way after the next heavy rain.

The Pumpwell Circle service road near Ujjodi is a perfect example — riddled with craters so deep that vehicles are forced to crawl, leading to traffic jams and an open invitation to accidents. Even the KSRTC State Bank bus stand entrance is so poorly maintained that buses risk undercarriage damage just trying to enter the station.

This is not just poor governance — this is administrative apathy at its worst.

The Hidden Price Tag

Bad roads are not just a safety hazard — they are bleeding the city’s economy dry.

  • Rs 192.81 crore is the estimated loss Dakshina Kannada suffered from damage to roads and bridges during recent floods.
  • Residents spend Rs 2,000 to Rs 10,000 per vehicle for suspension repairs, tire replacements, and wheel alignments caused by pothole damage.
  • Delivery workers, cab drivers, and auto-rickshaw owners lose hours of productive time, resulting in lower earnings and higher fuel costs.
  • Ambulances and fire services face critical delays, which can turn emergencies into tragedies.

A City Speaks Out

Social media is flooded with photos and videos of cratered roads. Residents tag local authorities on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram, demanding accountability. Some citizens have taken to planting saplings in potholes as a form of protest, hoping to shame authorities into action. Others have organized flash protests, blocking roads to draw attention to the dangers commuters face daily.

Online forums like Reddit are full of horror stories — dented rims, broken axles, and near-death experiences. The anger is palpable. People are tired of hearing excuses about monsoons, funds, or tenders.

Enough Patchwork – We Need Permanent Solutions

Mangalore’s road crisis needs more than temporary fixes and photo-op inaugurations. It needs a complete overhaul in the way road construction and maintenance are approached.

What must be done:

  1. Criminal Accountability: Officials and contractors whose negligence leads to loss of life must face legal consequences. When negligence kills, it is not an accident — it is culpable homicide.
  2. Durable, Quality Roads: Roads must be built and repaired using proper concrete and bitumen mix, with strong quality checks to ensure longevity.
  3. Proper Drainage Systems: Poor drainage is a root cause of pothole formation. Without solving this, we are merely putting band-aids on a festering wound.
  4. Transparent Fund Utilization: Roadwork budgets must be audited publicly, and tenders should include accountability clauses with penalties for substandard work.
  5. Citizen Reporting Mechanisms: Tech-based solutions like GPS-tagged pothole reporting apps should be implemented and acted upon promptly.

The Call for Change

Mangaluru has always been a city of resilience, entrepreneurship, and education. It deserves roads that reflect its potential, not ones that make it a cautionary tale. Every life lost, every accident, every breakdown is a reminder that we are being failed — not by nature, but by those we trust to govern.

It is time for Mangalureans to demand safe, durable, and accountable infrastructure. A pothole-free city is not a luxury; it is a basic right.The question is no longer “When will the roads be repaired?” The question is: How many more lives must be lost before action is taken?

 

 

 
By Ankith S Kumar
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