Storm-water drain remodelling project still remains incomplete

Storm-water drain remodelling project still remains incomplete

Anil Kumar Sastry

Work on Raja Kaluve of Nayandahalli Tank was launched in September last

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

SLOW PACE: Work on Raja Kaluve of Nayandahalli Tank between Rajarajeshwari Nagar Arch and Bangalore University Gate on Mysore Road has been going on at a snail’s pace.

BANGALORE: It is exactly a year after the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) took up remodelling of the Raja Kaluve of Nayandahalli Tank that abuts Mysore Road between Rajarajeshwari Nagar Arch and Bangalore University Gate. The Rs. 2.19-crore work on a stretch of around 400 metres, that was launched on September 17, 2007, has still not crossed the half-way mark.

None would have worried about the delay had the work been somewhere else. However, this work has been choking vehicular traffic on busy Bangalore–Mysore Road as the muck from the storm-water drain has been strewn across the stretch of Mysore Road.

The remodelling involved two works — construction of concrete retaining wall on the storm-water drain between Rajarajeshwari Nagar Arch and Vrishabhavathi Tertiary Valley close to Bangalore University Gate on the right side of the road and the construction of a culvert connecting this drain in front of The Club to the Vrishabhavathi on the opposite side.

BBMP personnel removed the existing retaining wall along the storm-water drain immediately after the work started in September last, and then began the nightmare for road users. For some days, the size stones removed from the drain were haphazardly placed on the roadside. Even as the stones were removed, muck removed from the drain occupied the place and continues to be there still.
Slow pace

The construction of concrete retaining wall is going on at a snail’s pace and not even 20 per cent of the storm-water drain has been covered. On the other hand, property owners abutting the storm-water drain and residential and commercial establishments off the storm-water drain have almost been disconnected from Mysore Road because of removal of existing retaining walls, rued Balakrishna, a resident of this locality.

Work on the culvert too has not been completed. As a result, the two-lane road on each side suddenly becomes a single-lane stretch near the construction site putting road users into difficulty. The open construction site on the left side of the road is an inviting site for any accident to happen, said Ramachandra Gowda, a road user.
BWSSB contribution

Whenever it rains, the storm-water drain overflows inundating the Rajarajeshwari Nagar Gate junction and parts of Mysore Road nearby as this drain is always filled with semi-treated sewage. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) allows semi-treated Vrishabhavathi waters from its tertiary treatment plant to flow into this drain. Its promise to let the sewage through a pipe is yet to be fulfilled.

Mr. Balakrishna hoped that the civic agency will complete the work on priority and end the woes of road users as well as residents.