Red FM: Worshipping potholes

Red FM will go to the most menacing potholes across Mumbai and perform puja in an attempt to wake up the sleeping authorities.

The war against the pothole menace has completely gripped Mumbai, after more than 9,000 potholes were reported in recent times from different parts of the city. Taking this endeavour forward and helping people raise their voices, Sun TV-owned Red FM recently launched a campaign, Pothole Utsav, that hunts for the worst potholes in the city through a contest.

The initiative, a part of Morning No. 1 show hosted by RJ Malishka, invites people to report about potholes near their localities and gets the radio station to perform a puja at the site to alert authorities about their duties.

The channel is urging people to describe the pothole in their locality in a funny way and upload pictures of the pothole on the station's Facebook page ( It is a 10-day campaign that began last week.

The channel has already performed a puja at a pothole with the Mahim corporator, Virendra Vishnu Thandle. The idea behind the initiative is to take a tongue-in-cheek dig at the authorities and make them aware of their unfulfilled duties.

Speaking about choosing the potholes initiative, Anand Raj, national programming head, Red FM, says, "We chose this topic because it is important to the people here. We are discussing about these potholes in a funny and humorous way so that our listeners who are on the move in the morning can laugh, share their problems and not take pity on the situation. This is also an attempt to make a mockery of the current situation so that the concerned authorities take cognizance of it."

The channel also invited Bombay Municipality Commissioner Sitaram Kunte to its studios. Kunte answered questions put forward by listeners and assured that the authorities are taking complete cognizance of the matter.

The success of the initiative can be gauged from the fact that there have been more than 9,000 potholes reported on the roads of Mumbai, of which 10 per cent are on new roads. Several accidents have taken place because of these potholes, causing injuries and deaths to many. The subject is making headlines all over Maharashtra currently.