Puttenahalli sinks to a new low

Puttenahalli sinks to a new low
The Times of India

Puttenahalli, off JP Nagar: Almost 24 hours later, life was still frozen at the same place for residents of rain-battered Puttenahalli. If at all possible, it was in fact worse.

By Wednesday, the bylanes of this area were full of stench emanating from stagnated water, with children reporting fever and skin infection. While some residents were making futile attempts to clean their premises, those living on ground floors, especially bachelors, had started packing up.

With no rain and some sunshine on Wednesday, residents of Munireddy layout, Abbaiah Reddy layout, Ashthalakshmi layout were busy cleaning their flooded homes. But with three feet water on the road, this effort was in vain.

Water from Puttenahalli, Kothnur and Chunchunghatta tanks have been flowing into the area as it is bang on the tank bed. To make way for the gushing water, residents had made huge holes under their houses to let water flow. “We have broken down walls of 30 houses for free flow of water. Look at how water is flowing; we have even removed the manhole covers to allow water to flow, but now it is affecting our toilets,’’ complained Siddappa.

The area councillor Patel Raj, who visited the area armed with policemen, cut short his visit fearing residents’ wrath. Meanwhile, residents had pitched in money and hired water tankers as it was impossible to carry water for drinking, cooking and washing from far away public taps.

Power supply had still not been restored and a few areas which had power, encountered short-circuit problems. “Schools in the area are under water. Our children have started falling sick; even the health clinics nearby have closed down,’’ complained Sowbhagya.

Upstream, at Om Shaktinagar, the Chunchunghatta tank had breached and the water was gushing into the drains. But timely action from the forest department officials contained the damage as they stacked sand bags all over the bund to prevent water spilling into abutting houses.

Though the water level on Bannerghatta Road had come down, the road which was already in a deplorable state, had deteriorated further with craters and huge stones protruding.