Stink on Brigade Road

Stink on Brigade Road
Thursday April 19 2007 10:38 IST

BANGALORE: The busy Brigade Road ran into a ‘stinking problem’ on Wednesday when a sewer line overflowed following a drainage block at Church Street entrance.

The accident made life miserable for the people around and the passing traffic for over three hours.

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which was alerted several times by the residents was slow to respond. It took several hours to make the area free of stink.

Employee of RR restaurant on Church Street, Thimappa Reddy said, “After repeated complaints, the BWSSB arrived around 5.30 pm almost three hours after the sewerage overflowed. The stench was unbearable and we lost many valuable customers.”

However, the BWSSB officials had another version to tell, “Church Street has a large number of restaurants, in particular non-vegetarian restaurants, and the inefficient disposal of wastes has led to the sewerage block. The careless disposal of plastic items, napkins, bones of fishes and meat, and other objects by the restaurants has caused the clogging.”

As for the delay, chief maintenance engineer BWSSB Venkat Raju said, “The jetting and suction equipment which is used for the clearing of drain was engaged in another drain clearance work at Ejipura around 3 pm and thus attending to the Church Street sewerage block was delayed. Potable water which contains disinfectants and chemicals was used to clear the drain therefore no additional chemical was required to disinfect the area.”