Meet Gangadhara Tilak Katnam, the man who singlehandedly fixed over 1,000 potholes in his hometown of Hyderabad, India.

The 66-year-old pensioner has made it his mission to fix the city's roads, earning himself the nickname 'road doctor'.

Since 2011, the former railway engineer has been driving around the city every single day, looking for

abandoned tar and gravel on roadsides. He collects the unclaimed material and uses it to fill potholes, at times spending his own pension money to do it.

Tilak, who calls his work 'Shramadaan' (offering physical help), doesn't confine himself to his neighborhood - he patches up every pothole he can find in the city.

"After working for the South Central Railway for 35 years, I retired in October 2008 and spent some time off in 2009, also traveling to the US to meet my son," Tilak told the local media.

"In January 2010,1 came back and took up a job as a consultant in a software agency." It was during the course of commuting to this job that Tilak found his calling.

"I was driving to my first day of office when I ended up splashing dirty mud water on school children after my car fell into a pothole on the road," he recalled.

"Then a few more accidents followed at various places." He kept explaining to the police that these accidents wouldn't have occurred if the roads had been smooth. But then he witnessed a major accident that changed everything.

"It was near Langer House in the Old City area and I had already seen an accident occur there four days ago," he said. "An RTC bus rammed an auto, crushing one person to death. I was horrified by what I saw and I realised that if someone had filled the pothole after the previous accident, a life could have been saved."

So Tilak decided to take charge of matters himself.

Initially, Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officials tried to discourage Tilak, telling him they would take care of the potholes themselves. But when he refused to stop, they had no choice but to join in by providing him with resources and materials.

He also has a letter from the state's home minister, permitting him to carry on with fixing roads. Tilak hopes that with media attention, he can inspire a change in the attitude of the general public.