Dadarao Bilhore – The ‘Pothole Dada’

“After my son’s death, I decided not to let anyone die because of potholes in the road.”

– Dadarao Bilhore

Unfortunate Story:

A pothole in the road-killed Dadarao Bilhore’s sixteen-year-old son Prakash. Prakash had passed the SSC Board (10th) examination, and he was returning home on a motorcycle with his elder brother Ram. 

After submitting an admission form to a college for further studies, it was the month of July, so due to heavy rains on the way, they had to stop at a hideout in the Powai area. 

When the rain stopped, they went from there towards the house. When they reached near Jogeshwari-Vikhroli link road, they found the road ahead completely submerged.

The Horrifying Incident Happened:

Anticipating the depth of the water-filled on the road, they kept walking. When suddenly their motorcycle got stuck in a deadly pothole on the road filled with water, Ram did not know.

By the time they could understand something, both the brothers jumped and fell. Since Ram was riding a motorbike, he was aware of the pothole earlier and cautious to avoid accidents. 

But he did not have enough time to warn Prakash. The people around also kept looking helplessly, just with their dropping jaws. After some time, both the injured brothers were taken to the hospital.

Dadarao Bilhore was selling vegetables to customers in the Andheri area when this accident happened in the other end of Mumbai. he got a phone call from someone, and the caller told him that his son had fallen from the bike. 

Dadarao Bilhore thought there might have been minor injuries, and it’s not too much of a concern, and he was sure. After some time, someone called him again to that Prakash had suffered serious head injuries, while Ram was fine.

Suddenly darkness began to fall in front of Dadarao Bilhore’s eyes. And this darkness intensified with the news of Prakash’s death in a few minutes. He could not save his son Prakash from his untimely death.

But he decided not to let this happen to anyone else because of the potholes in the road. Not a month had passed since his son’s death; he went out to fill the potholes of the roads with pieces of gravel, stone and brick. The people in the neighbourhood thought he had gone mad in the shock of his son’s death.

Dadarao Bilhore knew his son Prakash very well. Prakash was a very good boy, a fit and agile boy who aspired to live an entire life. Prakash never wants such an accident to happen to anyone. 

Initiative Towards PotHoles:

Dadarao Bilhore continues to struggle for punished the people responsible for his son’s death. Still, in the meantime, he does not want anyone else to be a victim of such an accident, so he tries to make the roads and streets safe. 

He has filled 554 potholes in three years, and People lovingly call him ‘Pothole Dada’. If any pit complaint is made to the concerned authorities, cognisance is taken within at least 20 days.

Dadarao Bilhore knows that justice is not getting by itself, but it needs to be achieved. That’s why he had also filed a case against those responsible for his son’s death. After his efforts, many other victims have also raised their voices against this lapse in the system.

Mobile App:

The 47-year-old Dadarao Bilhore has also created a mobile app called Spothole, which takes the help of fellow citizens to locate potholes together and resolve the issue. 

The app uses three basic features already available in a smartphone — mobile camera, GPS, and internet connection — and enables citizens to accomplish half the job by distributing power and much-needed responsibility to a crowd-sourced model. 

The first step to fixing a pothole is to mark it, and Spotholes helps point out the pothole.

Conclusion:

Instead of sitting idle grieved over the death of his son and blaming the administration, He took a different path and started working that no one else’s life should be lost because of the potholes lying in the road.

This shows his solution-oriented approach. We should learn from this that if we rise above our emotions and find a solution to our problems, then this world will definitely change. 

We blame the administration for the pits lying on the roads, corruption, black marketing, inflation, and many other reasons. Our blaming is not wrong, but we should see what steps we can take for that.

See you in the next article, with one more such inspirational story.

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