A day after a visual artiste in Bangalore vented to his frustration over the failure of civic authorities in fixing pot holes in the city by transforming it into an artificial crocodile pond, civic authorities flew into action to fix it.

Tired of careless attitude of civic authorities in Bangaluru, Baadal Nanjundaswamy,an artist, created a temporary art installation with a model of life-sized crocodile in sitting inside a big pothole on on the Sulthanpalya Main Road in north Bangalore on Thursday.

A 36-year-old visual artiste Baadal Nanjundaswamy had drawn attention to the pot hole on Thursday by placing a fake crocodile in the pot hole in Sultanpalya area of north Bangalore. On Friday the news spread of the artiste’s effort to draw attention and workers from the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagar Palike arrived to fill up the pot hole. The pot had been on the busy main road for over a month.

Baadal, known for his civic activism, started painting around the pothole in fluoroscent colours, so as to draw attention to the crater.

A drinking water pipe broke about a month ago. The subsequent rain and constant traffic eroded the road creating a big pot hole. Locals have complained to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the BWSSB to no avail. I am hoping they will take some action now,” Nanjundaswamy said. The artist created his fiber crocodile over a week’s time at a personal cost of Rs 6000.

“About 10 workers inspected the pot hole this morning and later filled it up, ” Pavan Kumar, a college student who passes through the area said. A contractor who was involved with filling up the pot hole said the repair work had been delayed because the workers were over burdened in the rainy season.

“We knew about the broken water pipe and the pot hole issue. We informed our superiors and we were only waiting for orders,” he said. The visual artiste Baadal Nanjundaswamy who drew attention to the pot hole with his art work was meanwhile hailed as a hero on social media. Baadal however said the credits should go the local people at Sultanpallya who helped him install the art work by diverting traffic.

 

“It took me less than half an hour to set it up because of the efforts of the local people. I am glad that my art was of some use in a public cause,” he said.

The crocodile pond did not exactly attract the attention of authorities, but it aroused the curiosity of hundreds of people passing by.