Encroachments hinder SWD remodelling work

Encroachments hinder SWD remodelling work
Vijay Times

WORK on remodelling of Storm Water Drains (SWDs), taken up by the Bangalore City Corporation (BCC) at a cost of Rs 500 crore, has been affected, thanks to encroachments.

Innumerable encroachments, in areas where work related to drains were scheduled to begin, have made engineers and contractors throw up their arms in despair.

It may be recalled that the BCC, in a bid to put an end to the perennial problem of inundation that arises during the rainy season, had taken up this project of remodelling storm water drains.

BCC officials, who have begun desilting and remodelling work in major storm water valleys like Vrishabhavathi, Challaghatta, Koramangala, and Hebbal, claim that space allocated for the drains h been encroached upon by unauthorised constructions such as commercial complexes and toilets inter alia.

BCC sources and a few contractors claimed that the remodelling work could not be completed unless the encroachments were cleared.

"Even the BCC has miserably failed to evict them," the sources added.

Remodelling work has been classified into 16 packages. Of this, three packages come under the Koramangala valley while there are another three that come under the Challaghatta valley. Als two packages come under the Vrishabhavathi valley and one under the Hebbal valley.

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The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) have also added to the mis eries of the BCC officials as the water su pipes and wires of these departments have been hindering desilting work. The pipes and wire which act as barriers, prevent the water fr flowing freely. Despite the best efforts of the BC officials to set things right by trying to bring t attention of those concerned, the bottlenecks stil persist.

Apart from the encroachments problem, BCC officials have also had to look into other such as taking over land from defence autho For instance, in the Challaghatta valley, wo under three packages (1,2 and 3) had begun. But work under the first package between Munireddypalya and Ulsoor lake was going on at a snail’s pace as a letter written by BCC official the Madras Engineers Group (MEG) was still being processed, a BCC official claimed. The ter was to seek permission to take possession of a stretch of 300 mts of land near the lake.

Similarly, in the Koramangala valley, anoth letter had been despatched to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) near Shantinagar for acquiring a stretch of for desilting purpose, the official added.

Many BCC officials expressed doubts on being able to complete the work before the onset monsoon.

The flow of storm water has been affected due to t BVT

BCC commissioner K Jothiramalingam and former mayor R Narayanaswamy took mediapersons to places where remodelling work was being carried out.

The commissioner had told mediapersons that he would show no mercy while removing encroachments.

If we evict encroachers, it will be a gr success achieved by the BCC, Jothiramalingam had said. However , four months later , the commissioner seems to have forgotten his words.