Respond quickly, utility agencies told

Respond quickly, utility agencies told

The Hindu

Rains force Chief Minister to hold meetings with senior officials of BMP, BDA and KPTCL

# BMP, BDA may clean major drains on the outskirts
# MEG and C to be kept informed about flood situation
# Staff in Chief Minister's Secretariat issued stern warning
# KPTCL asked to go slow on power cuts in water scarcity-hit areas

BANGALORE: Perturbed by heavy rains that lashed the city in the last few days, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday held a series of meetings with Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Commissioner K. Jairaj, Revenue Commissioner S.M. Jaamdar, Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore Urban M.A. Sadiq, and Chairman of Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd. (KPTCL) Bharat Lal Meena.

Sources told The Hindu that Mr. Kumaraswamy wanted the officials to attend to the people in distress with speed. Complaints of flooding in certain pockets of Bangalore and the adjoining areas should be attended to immediately. He asked the officials to take steps to prevent flooding in the low-lying areas and wanted the authorities to keep the Madras Engineer Group and Centre posted of the developments.

Mr. Kumaraswamy reportedly issued clear-cut directions to the BMP Commissioner. He was upset about complaints pertaining to flooding of certain low-lying areas, particularly Puttenahalli in Bangalore south, Byatarayanapura and Varthur in the east.

The encroachments around the Puttenahalli tank identified after heavy rains last year had remained and the authorities were unable to shift or persuade the residents to move to safe places.

BMP commissioner visited the Nayandahalli tank area on Tuesday since the Mysore-Bangalore highway was flooded every time there was torrential rain in the area. Encroachments in the area had choked both the inlet and the outlet canals of the tank.

Mr. Kumaraswamy told the KPTCL Chairman to refrain from imposing power cuts in the regions facing serious drinking water problem.

The Government was not against power cuts in the areas where there were heavy rains over the past week. Ironically, the power demand dropped substantially in any given area soon after the rains.

Mr. Jairaj told The Hindu that certain concrete steps would be taken shortly to provide quick relief to the people. That apart some urgent works were being undertaken by BMP and the Bangalore Development Authority in all the city municipal councils (CMC) areas. The emergency measures under implementation related to cleaning of choked storm water drains and strengthening retaining walls of the drains.

The Government had assured these agencies that funds would be released for such works.

While the BMP has undertaken works at Byatarayanapura and Rajarajeshwarinagar, the BDA was focusing on Krishnarajapuram, Dasarahalli and Varthur.

Stern warning

The Chief Minister issued a stern warning to the officials in his Secretariat following complaints of malpractice, forgery and negligence.

At least three cases of fraud have been reported against the staff of the secretariat in the transfer of some officials.

The general complaint has been that the staff in the Chief Minister's Secretariat were high-handed and rude and prevented the common people from expressing their grievances to the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister held meetings with top officials in finalising the transfer and postings of some senior bureaucrats.

The transfer of at least 15 IAS officers was reportedly finalised and orders would be issued on Thursday.