BDA hurries on Pai Layout, HSR Layout, Puttenahalli drains

BDA hurries on Pai Layout, HSR Layout, Puttenahalli drains
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is gearing up to face the monsoon and is speeding up the drain works it has undertaken. While it has set June 1 as the deadline for finishing work at Pai Layout and Puttenahalli, in the CMC limits which are adopted by BDA, the agency seems be going slow in its own HSR Layout.

All the three areas were in news during last monsoon due to heavy flooding. After that the BDA swung into action to take up work to prevent flooding and asphalted rain damaged roads. The layout has houses of several ministers and MLAs.

The BDA started the work last October at an estimated cost of Rs 3.75 crore and promised to complete work before the onset of monsoon. But work is still incomplete though the monsoon has arrived. “The work will be completed by October,” BDA Commissioner Shankarlinge Gowda said. Asked about the cost of the work, he said it was around Rs 10 crore.

He said the drain work in Pai Layout was almost complete. “The slabs on the drains have been laid. All the work will be completed by June 1,” he said. BDA took up work to divert the rainwater and construct rainwater drains. The detailed project report prepared in October, estimated the cost at Rs 2.6 crore. But, when asked, Gowda said the cost was around Rs 8 crore.

The residents of Pai Layout, which comes under the KR Puram CMC limits, have been suffering for the past 30 years, since water rises above five feet. The unauthorised layout has 52 buildings, which have nearly 1,300 flats. But, there is no secondary drainage, no piped drinking water, no sewage lines and no roads.

Besides this, the BDA has also taken up drainage work in Puttenahalli CMC. Last year, this area too was flooded as there was no drainage system and the Puttenahalli lake too overflowed. The work here is also expected to be completed by June.