CMC administration, the villain of rain havoc in City

WHAT CHOKED B LORE PART-I
CMC administration, the villain of rain havoc in City
VIJAY TIMES NEWS

Bangalore: The heavy rain which lashed the City for the past one week has exposed not only the haphazard growth of Bangalore s outskirts, but also the callous administration of the City Municipal Councils (CMCs) which had resulted in the large scale destruction and miseries to the people.

The torrential rain, breaking a 50 year record, inundated about 100 layouts in the outskirts which, incidentally , are marked as unauthorised by the BDA. As the population spilled o ver to the outskirts, the CMCs went on approving layout development plans without bothering to pro vide infrastructural facilities like roads and storm water drains. That is why houses were inundated, according to former Mayor Chandrasekhar , a civic expert credited with pro viding good infrastructure in his Hanumanthnagar ward.

M ost of the sky -scrapers we see at the outskirts have come up after reclaiming wet land and lake beds which were meant for storm water drains, says former Mayor P R Ramesh.

The BDA’s website has listed 108 illegal layouts, many of them in CMC limits, with builders claiming to have obtained permission from CMCs. These layouts have virtually no plans. Builders, who approached CMCs, were allowed to bring up constructions according to their whims and fancies. In many areas, the garbage and weed have not been remo ved from the drains for years which is what chokes them, said a BDA official.

Ramesh sho ws several residential complexes the ground floors of which were inundated due to o verflo wing drains. The conditions of the roads are so poor that heavy rain causes potholes, he said.

The Stup consultants have come up with a proposal to prevent flooding of these areas. One of their suggestions is to have two more culverts between Old Madras Road to Dondenhalli T ank.

BCC Commissioner Jyotiramalingam admitted that there is virtually no storm water drainage system in any of the CMC limits. H eavy rains have proved what we have been apprehending for years, said Rajesh, a resident in Mahadevpura CMC. H e had recently exhibited a video footage highlighting the poor infrastructural facilities and violation of civic laws in CMC limits.

M edia is unnecessarily blaming the BCC for havoc. Please sho w me one area in my BCC limits where water has gushed into houses? The areas inundated lie beyond the jurisdiction of BCC, said Jyotiramalingam

The seven City Municipal Councils (CMCs), having a control over areas around Bangalore, are in the ne after the torrential rain that brought in its trai astation to the City , destroying private and public scores and rendering thousands homeless.

The devastation, as everyone knows, stemmed choked storm water drains that repelled enor into them and inundated adjacent residential colon outs, roads, complexes and private and public offi held CMCs responsible for the tragedy for a layouts to raise heads at the mouths, and along th the beds of several water bodies, leaving little s water to accumulate.

With that surfaced a long-pending proposal f CMCs with the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) to administration and civic amenities to these areas. ernment this time lost no time in deciding to endo triggering a debate again whether the merger BCC is justified and whether , after the me these areas will be served well by the BCC. The o issue are divided, some supporting the government’ others rejecting it. Here is why some sup with BCC.

CMCs went on permitting layout plans

BDA website has listed 108 illegal layouts

Road conditions very poor; slight rain causes potholes

Garbage not removed from drains for years

Media unnecessarily blaming BCC for havoc