'Masterpiece' engineering fails: Bengaluru's electric tower, MP's transformer stand in middle of road

India's viral road hazards: The electric tower in Bengaluru's Hebbal, and (right) the transformer in Madhya Pradesh's Satna. (Image credit: Punit, Virat 24 News/X)

What's being ironically dubbed "masterpiece" engineering is currently drawing significant public ire and widespread social media attention, as glaring urban planning gaffes in Bengaluru and Madhya Pradesh reveal infrastructure projects seemingly built with a shocking disregard for basic logic and safety. From electric poles standing defiantly in the middle of roads to a bizarrely designed rail overbridge, these blunders are highlighting serious questions about accountability and foresight in India's urban development.

The latest examples went viral on X (formerly Twitter), igniting a fresh wave of criticism. An X user, Gems (@gemsofbabus_), highlighted a particularly egregious case in Madhya Pradesh, sharing an image of an electric pole or transformer planted squarely in the middle of a newly constructed road. The caption sarcastically noted, "Madhya Pradesh's corruption and urban planning are on another level, but no one talks about it."

Responding to this post, another X user, Punit (@punitpalial), added to the catalogue of baffling designs by introducing a "masterpiece" from Bengaluru: a colossal electric tower seemingly erected in the dead centre of a road in Hebbal, captured in a widely shared video. Replying to questions from other users who wondered if the clip was AI-generated, Punit said the video was of an electric tower in Hebbal and that he recorded it on his iPhone.

Allow me to introduce you to this masterpiece in Bangalore https://t.co/DQIps6qZjc pic.twitter.com/9fum0X8FiG

— punit (@punitpalial) June 18, 2025

This Bengaluru example mirrors the Madhya Pradesh anomaly, leaving commuters and netizens baffled as to how such fundamental obstacles could be left in critical thoroughfares.

These recent viral instances echo an earlier, equally astonishing infrastructure gaffe from Madhya Pradesh – a rail overbridge in Bhopal that became infamous for its perilous 90-degree L-shaped turn. Constructed for Rs 18 crore, the 648-meter-long bridge, meant to ease traffic in the Aishbagh area, looked more like "a scribble from a government notepad than a product of a civil engineering blueprint," as many pointed out. According to NDTV, locals dubbed it a "statue of confusion," with residents like Nida Khan explicitly voicing fears of "100 per cent chance of accidents happening here."

Following intense public criticism and a sustained media campaign, authorities have finally conceded to redesign the overbridge, expanding the turn by three feet to allow for a safer, more rounded approach.