It pours misery here

It pours misery here
Deccan Herald

A life where house and shop fronts, streets and lanes are surrounded by three feet of water and filth, is the normal order of things at JP Nagar V Phase.

The sorry state of civic affairs was first exposed during the rains in early September, but the area has had no respite. It is water and sewerage all around.

For the whole of last week, the lanes and bylanes along its 24th main have been inundated with three or four feet of water and sewerage.

There has been no let-up in the overflow from the Puttenahalli lake, and its outlets are all blocked.

According to Bommanahalli CMC Commissioner Udayashankar, the problem aggravated from Thursday, as there has been an overflow in Chinchagatte kere and Kothanur kere also. Water from these tanks flow into Sarakki and Puttenahalli in a chain link, he said.

Residents who spoke to Deccan Herald over phone had several woes: families had had enough of seeing their children trudge to school through the mess; adults had given up on hope of any help from civic agencies.

“Let alone roads, ask them (authorities to make outlets for this mess to flow out,” moaned one; “I moved out three days back, don’t want to think of home for a while,” said another. “People who are tenants move out, what can we permanent residents do? How long can I keep my family in a relative’s place?” queried another. ‘My job is to advise people against living in such environs, but I live here, wade through the mess every day,” noted a doctor.

Commissioner dayashankar pleaded helplessness: ‘We need a let-up in rain before we can take up any further work. Clearing the Rajakaluve is not a problem for us,” he said.

Noting that manual labourers and excavators have been stationed at select junctions to attend to any emergency, he said, “Last Friday we were due to take up a drain work in the area, but rain hampered work.”