Rains ‘ring’ in a flood

Rains ‘ring’ in a flood

On an average, the Palike gets around 130 calls per day every time it rains heavily in the city

By Rohith B R
Posted On Saturday, September 06, 2008
As low lying areas of Bangalore go under water everytime the heavens open up, a flood of a different kind keeps the staff of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on their toes.

On particularly bad rainy days, the agency's control rooms have to cope with as many as 200 calls from enraged citizens. On an average, the Palike receives around 130 frenzied calls during a heavy rain.

"This month, when it rained heavily, we received over 40 complaints during one shift of eight hours in our zone," said a staffer from the BBMP West Zone control room. Most of the complaints came from areas like Dollars Colony and Kamalanagara.

The situation is no different in the east or south zones, with complaints flowing from RT Nagar and Jayamahal in the former and Banashankari and Jayanagar in the latter.

"Complaints of water logging and tree felling are common in areas like RT Nagar, Jayamahal," said a east zone staffer.
In the central zone, the story is altogether different. "In addition to handling calls from our jurisdiction, we have to cater to the needs of the entire BBMP area as our helpline is popular among the public," said a Palike staffer.

When it comes to Greater Bangalore, Byatarayanapura and Rajarajeshwarinagar are the worst hit zones. "Nagawara, Hennur, Nayandahalli.... the list goes on in these two zones," said a senior official from the BBMP.

The staff at Mahadeevapura, Bommanahalli and Dasarahalli zones have relatively less calls to attend to, receiving 5 to 30 calls per day.

Most of the control rooms, meanwhile, lack staff. "The Rajarajeshwari Nagar control room, which requires three people, is run by one person on most days," said a Palike source.

The task becomes stiff as the Palike, other than attending to complaints of water logging and uprootings, also has to co-ordinate with other civic agencies such as BWSSB and BESCOM.

Zone-wise calls

Here is a list of calls per zone received by BBMP control rooms on rainy days from areas that are prone to flooding:

Central Zone: 30 - Hebbal, Guttahalli, and from other zones
East Zone: 30 - R T Nagar, Banasavadi, Lingarajpura, HRBR Layout, KG Halli, Jayamahal
West Zone: 40 - Dollars Colony, Kamalanagara
South Zone: 15 - Banashankari 1st and 2nd stage, Jayanagar 4th Block, Ashok Nagar, Nagarabavi
Rajarajeshwarinagar: 20 - Ideal Homes Layout, Nagarabavi 2nd stage, Hosakerehalli, Nayandahalli, BEML Layout
Byatarayanapura: 10 - Nagavara, Hennur, BBR Layout
Dasarahalli: 5 - BEL Circle, Laggere, Jalahalli
Mahadevapura: 15 - Kalappa Layout, Vijinapura, Diesel Shed Lake
Bommanahalli: 30 - Mangammana Palya, Hongasandra

Total: 195

Helpline

Central Zone: 22100031, 22221188
East Zone: 22975803
West Zone: 23561692
South Zone: 26566362
Rajarajeshwarinagar(CMC): 28600954
Byatarayanapura(CMC): 23636677
Bommanahalli(CMC): 25735642
Dasarahalli(CMC): 28394909
Mahadevapura (CMC): 28512300, 28512301