Monsoon pours misery over city

Monsoon pours misery over city

Affected areas
Banashankari, Ejipura, Koramangala, Lakkasandra, Sudhaguntepalya, Kamakhya theatre road Rain recorded 7.34 cm
Typical problems
Sewage stagnating up to 3 feet, flooding of houses, vehicular movement thrown out of gear
Aggravators
Encroachments on tank beds, stormwater drains that are clogged, sloppy work by municipal agencies

IN A MESS POOL

The 7.34 cm of rain on Monday night punished even the hitherto considered flood-proof areas. Main roads like MG Road turned into rivers and there was car-deep water in apartment complex basements. Driving became a nightmare with visibility reduced to near zero and vehicles almost submerging in water. Several cabs ferrying late-night workers were stranded on roads across the city.

The scenario was hellish in the normally rain-battered Ejipura and other low-lying areas. Cox Town, Tyagarajanagar, Suddhaguntepalya, Gandhi Bazaar, Silk Board Junction, Koramangala, Hebbal, Banashankari, Kamakhya theatre Road and Lakkasandra too bore the brunt of the downpour.

“I was in the car which was caught between rain water and slush. I had no idea where I was and how to get out of the mess. Every inch that the car moved the fear of an electric pole or a tree falling on the car gripped me,’’ said Sheetal Sehgal, a resident of BTM Layout who was returning from office.

The situation was worse at Ganesh Apartments, Richmond Road, Ejipura, ST Bed Layout (a BDA layout), where most of the houses on the ground floor were flooded.

Sarang Shah of Ashwini Layout, Ejipura, says, “A group of residents got together to pump out water from the houses because BMP had sent only two workers.’’

Ejipura has often been in the eye of a storm. But has anything been done to alleviate it? “Flooding in our areas is a major problem and pumping out water will not solve it,’’ said Ejipura residents’ welfare association president S J Alcanther.

Areas in East Bangalore have this major problem — encroachments near Bellandur Lake and narrowing down of storm water drains leading to the lake, from the standard 20 metres to a meagre 3 metres. This typically causes flooding.

An organisation that calls itself FORWARD 68, formed by residents welfare associations, which is fighting the civic problems primarily caused by flooding, has framed a letter to the principal secretary, minor irrigation department, requesting him to undertake de-silting and deepening of Bellandur Lake.

The progress report of the Koramangala Valley remodelling project is further discouraging. The project which has been divided into three modules has seen dismal progress. Which means the rain water and the drain water flow back to the periphery of these areas.

Rain drain

Ever heard of cleaned-up work getting dirtier because it was cleaned up? Workers and gang-men have been seen desilting drains in the city but have been leaving the silt bang by the side of the desilted drain. Which means, Monday night’s downpour sent the debris bang where it once belonged.

This has been a familiar sight in Sanjaynagar, Malleswaram, Seshadripuram, Magadi Road, parts of R T Nagar.
However, BMP commissioner Jairaj whose pet project ever since he took charge, has been desilting drains, refuted this saying: “This is not true. The gangmen have removed 65 truckloads of silt in one month.’’

The point Mr Commissioner, is that the desilting might have been done but the same is flowing back.

FROM THE PERIPHERY

Mysore Road
The intensive desilting of drains on Mysore Road probably came in handy — flood-prone Nayandahalli and Ring Road junction on Mysore Road did not get flooded on Monday night.

Continuous desilting and drain-widening work in the storm water drains and valleys has resulted in better flow of water, thus averting any overflow or clogging problems, says Chandra Layout corporator V Muniraju.
Rajarajeshwarinagar CMC witnessed flooding in some low-lying areas — encroachments have come up on the valleys and areas like Disouzanagar, Vittalnagar and Ilyasnagar have been badly hit.

Kanakapura Road
Rain caused havoc in a few areas of Bangalore South. Traffic was held up for sometime on Tuesday morning as a tree had fallen due to strong wind. Chunchunghatta Road looked like a stream of brown muddy water. Divya, a resident, says: “It was very difficult to pass through as the road was not visible at all.’’

Ganapathipura was immersed is dark and smelly, sewage water. The drainage was clogged and it remains that way through out the year, residents say.

Puttenahalli
Flood-prone Ashtalakshmi Layout was spared this time. But the roads remained an eyesore with potholes filled with rain water. Puttenahalli Main Road was covered with wet red mud. 24th Main had its share of slush too.The good news is the road is being repaired, which is expected to be completed soon. Another blessing was water did not enter houses this time.

PROMISES, PROMISES, PROMISES...

It’s the same story all over again. Promises galore by our netas, many a deadline set, compensation announced ... But what about ground reality? Check this out.

Promise: At Puttenahalli, chief minister H D Kumaraswamy famously declared in March that drain and road work would be speeded up within three months. “If not good roads, we will at least ensure there is no flooding this time,’’ he had said.

Reality: By residents’ consensus, this has been true to an extent of 60 per cent. Except for Astalakshmi Layout and the vicinity of Sarakki tank, Puttenahalli is far better than last year.

Promise: The first thing that BMP chief Jairaj did after taking over was to get a contingency plan prepared. 30 problem-prone areas were identified, and it said drain desilting would be taken up on a priority.

Reality: These areas were flooded on Monday night, and even till Tuesday evening, the roads had stagnant pools of water.

Promise: Road asphalting work will be completed before monsoon, the BMP had promised.

Reality: It has not even started!

Promise: In the BMP’s contingency plan, Shivajinagar has been listed as a sensitive area for water-logging. The narrow roads which cannot be asphalted were supposed to have concrete roads.

Reality: Not an inch of work has been done, say residents, despite the area being mayor Mumtaz Begum’s ward. Their greatest fear is that water will never drain out of the roads.

WHAT CAN I DO?

Because of extensive desilting work, there has been a lot of rain-water runoff. Wards 65 and 67, which were in bad shape last year, are much better this time. I can say that 55 per cent of desilting work has been done. By Julyend, the areas will be water-proof.

The biggest problem is encroachments. Eleven persons at Rajarajeshwarinagar, who have land atop rajakaluves, have voluntarily given up land. This will be used for channelling work. That apart, many lower middle class families have built houses on drains. What can I do about them?

— BMP commissioner K Jairaj