Money and lives going down these drains

Money and lives going down these drains

The Times of India

• May 25, 2002: B.N. Manjunath, wife Rekha and fourand-a-half-year-old daughter Malavika drown when their car mistakenly plunged into a storm water drain at JP Nagar II phase.

• October 2003: A newly married couple Chandrakanta and Gnanaprakash walking on the flooded road in Prakashnagar are washed away in the drain.

• 2004: Pukhraj Jain (70) of V.V. Puram is washed away in a shoulder drain.

• July 2004: Kiran (19) drowns in a drain in JB Nagar.
On Sunday, another tragedy got added to this list. Two boys were washed away in a drain near Magadi Road, Ramachandrapura ward.

When the 2002 tragedy occurred, the BCC expressed remorse and admitted they were to blame. But, when the two boys drowned on Sunday, BCC officials clearly refused to be held responsible. The civic body offered to pay the boys’ families compensation as a “humanitarian gesture,’’ but insisted “the boys should not have been playing near the drain in the first place’’.

The deaths notwithstanding, the BCC argues that it is geared up to face the monsoon this year. “There has been no flooding despite heavy rains that lashed the city the past two days,’’ stressed BCC engineer-inchief Rame Gowda.

This year, said Rame Gowda, BCC has identified areas likely to be flooded — BTM Layout, Ejipura, Chennamanakere Achukatte, Mathikere. “We have done 90 per cent of desilting of major secondary and shoulder drains. Where walls have collapsed, we have placed sandbags and barricades. We have six emergency squads, three for flooding complaints and three for tree falls.’’

Haven’t we heard that before?

Boys still missing

Bangalore: Seventy-year-old Even as the police and locals continued their search for the two boys, reported to have been washed away in a stormwater drain on Sunday evening, a pall of gloom has descended over the Christian Colony neighbourhood in Srirampura where the two lived.

John Billu Moria (12), sixth standard student of a government school, and Karna (15) studying in Little Flower School in the same area, were feared drowned in the drain while playing cricket opposite Sujata theatre around 4 pm on Sunday. The children had gone to fetch a ball when they fell into the drain that had swelled following heavy rain since Saturday.

John’s parents, who are workers in a factory, were inconsolable following the incident, where their only son has gone missing for over two days. They have four daughters.

Karna’s mother, Sarojamma, who lost her husband a few years ago, ekes out a living by working as a domestic help in the area. He is the younger of two sons.

Many neighbours too joined in the search. The stretch till Vrishabavati river in Kengeri has been searched, but in vain.

‘Missing person’ complaints have been lodged at Magadi Road police station. Search continued till late into Monday evening. There is no trace of the boys, police said.