Mr Dadarao Bilhore - An Unsung Hero

The monsoon season brings forth numerous troublesome situations for the city of Mumbai. Collapsing bridges, short circuits on railway platforms and damaging of the roads. The third situation is what stays for a long period of time, creating a menace for the civilians. For a long time, the potholes of Mumbai’s roads have been devoid of attention from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Amid all this chaos, one man rose above the complaints being made to the BMC and the lack of actions taken by the authorities and started solving the situation himself. Mr Dadarao Bilhore, a man in his late 40s, who runs a grocery store in Andheri, started filling potholes on the roads of Andheri to upto Ghatkopar (areas of Mumbai). This began after Mr Bilhore lost his 16 years old son, Prakash, in 2015, to an accident caused due to potholes.

In July month the year 2015, Prakash was returning home on his bike, with his brother Ram, when their vehicle encountered a pothole and caused an accident in which Ram sustained injuries and Prakash lost his life.

This made Mr Bilhore pick up the tools himself to start filling the potholes of the city’s roads, so that no other person could lose their life or even get injured due to it. From 2015 till now, he has filled more than 550 potholes in Mumbai.

Whenever Mr Bilhore would travel or pass through a road, he’d keep an eye on the roads. As soon as he’d spot a pothole, he’d start filling it up with debris or tarmac that he’s collected from construction sites, and then stomp on it to level the filling with the road. On seeing him fill the potholes, when people used to ask him why he was doing it, he'd tell them that he lost his child due to potholes, and he didn't want that to happen to anyone else. Earlier, people around him, only used to stand and watch him do the work, but lately, they’ve started giving him a helping hand in this heroic work, too.

Dadarao Bilhore might’ve saved so many potential fatalities, all singlehandedly. Not only this city or the country, but the entire world needs heroes like him. As for us, let's not his awakening go solo and try to step into his shoes.