It was raining woes for the residents

It was raining woes for the residents
DH News Service, Bangalore:
After Tuesday night's heavy thunder-showers, it was a rain of woes for the residents on Wednesday...


While an unidentified 30-year-old man was washed away in the storm water drain in Srirampura and apparently became the first casualty of the rains this year, a wall collapse in Marutinagar triggered further trouble. On Hosur Road a road close to the storm water drain caved in.

It was clear on Wednesday morning that the monsoon preparedness of BBMP and BWSSB was nowhere near satisfactory levels. Tuesday night’s heavy rains had clogged several low-lying areas and flooded underground drains.

When contacted, the BWSSB’s Public Relation Officer Prahlad Rao called them as ‘minor instances of water flooding, happening during the rains.’

But it proved to be a nightmare for hundreds of families of the city who spent sleepless night, throwing out water from their houses, many of which looked more like swimming pools.

After relentlessly throwing out water the whole night, residents of Sampangiram Nagar near Hotel Geo gave up on Wednesday morning and finally resorted to a Dharna and road blockade. As an impact, the traffic was thrown out of gear. The policemen were the first to rush to the spot to clear the traffic. Realising the problem, the police informed the officials of BBMP and BWSSB.

At about 9.30 am, the BWSSB staff came there only to find tonnes of silt chocking the underground drains, due to which the backwater had gushed into the houses.

The whole day the BWSSB men were trying to clear the silt but in vain. It was learnt that on Tuesday morning an Assistant Engineer was assigned to clear the silt in the underground drains at Sampangiram Nagar but the officer ignored his assignment. Thimmaiah from Nagawara complained that filth and sewage mixed rain water had covered the Nagawara main Road. He said, gunny bags, shoes, silt and sewage were littered everywhere in the morning on the road.

Even in the Central Business District, there were some roads covered in silt. Shop-keepers from the area were seen clearing them even on Wednesday evening.

Official denies

However, BWSSB chairperson Latha Krishna Rao denied any ‘major instance of water logging’ in the City. The PRO said, “There has been no major incident nor were our control rooms flooded with calls in this connection.”
Trees were uprooted in several areas including Chamarajpet Rayan Circle, Basavanagudi, KG Halli, near Coffee Board, Mysore Bank Circle on KG Road, Tilaknagar, and Ashoka Pillar in Jayanagar.

New control room

Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike (BBMP) has started a new control room at its K R Puram zone. The control room can be reached on 64567614. Citizen affected by monsoon may call the control room for help.