Breach spells a disaster

VRISHABHAVATHI
Breach spells a disaster

The Times of India

Bangalore: The Vrishabhavati — the main drain of the city, swollen by relentless rains and runoffs from connected drains — overflowed its embankments on Tuesday, flooding the Bangalore-Mysore highway and holding up traffic.

Billed one of the better storm water drains, the Vrishabhavathi’s inability to handle the downpour should serve as a grim alert to the authorities over the state of crumbling infrastructure and collapsing drainage.

The Vrishbhavathi valley overflow drowned the stretch at Nayandahalli and Rajarajeshwarinagar, while the road abutting the primary drain just off the Ring Road connecting Banashankari and J P Nagar was innundated cutting off vehicular movement. The surging waters removed the distinction between highway and drain, leading to precarious movement.

The small bridge on the valley leading to the Ring Road quivered due to pressure of water flowing underneath. On the other side, a factory on the drain bed had been marooned.

For the past five years, the BCC has been drawing up plans of remodelling the entire drain.

The police had a tough time controlling traffic and stopping vehicles from entering the flooded road. However, a few cars and BMTC buses braved the waters and drove — or, floated! — on the road. The gushing waters brought along with it the city’s dirt.

Upstream, Mysore Road cutting through Rajarajeshwarinagar was also marooned, stopping all traffic movement. Employees of factories along the road were stuck in rain unable to wade through the flooded waters.

The valley echoed its woes in distant BTM Layout too. Fortunately, the BTM tank here has still not reached its brim. But Bannerghatta Road was less fortunate. The stretch was flooded making vehicular movement difficult.