‘Landslide’ in city

‘Landslide’ in city
A huge chunk of the retaining wall on underpass collapses on road to Marathalli; corporator files plaint, but BDA still 'working out budget’
MANASI PARESH KUMAR


Landslides happen not just in the hill tracts, but also in the tech corridors of Bangalore. That is the inference one can draw while travelling on Outer Ring Road from Marathalli towards K R Puram, where a huge chunk of an underpass that runs close to a railway overbridge has caved in.
"It has all the trappings of a potential landslide. If it isn't repaired, the service road near the bridge will collapse," said Naveen A, a risk manager working in a tech park in Hebbal.
He said, "I travel by Volvo bus to work every day and I have been seeing the earth slide down further in the last two weeks. But what remains mysterious is why have the authorities not got into the damage-control mode?"
Residents of nearby Karthiknagar and Doddanekundi ask the same question. For, it is an image reminiscent of the wall collapse that killed 17-year-old Sanjana Singh.
The stones that support the retaining walls of the underpass crashed during the heavy rains three weeks ago. Now, these stones are precariously perched and threaten to fall on the road, where vehicles move at great speeds as it connects Electronics City with ITPL and Bangalore International Airport.
"The next time it rains heavily, the road is likely to collapse. What if some car gets trapped or the foundation of a nearby building gives way," asked a resident.
This is not the first time that a retaining wall has collapsed. It's becoming an annual phenomenon during rains; but this time, it has happened close to a residential area. This is nothing but a pointer to the shoddy work done by the Bangalore Development Authority a few years ago.
Ironically, the political leaders of the area -- from K R Puram MLA Nandish Reddy to Mahadevapura MLA and Higher Education Minister Arvind Limbavalli -- travel on this road.
Newly-elected corporator Sridhar Reddy, who lives a few metres away from the spot, had written to the BDA seeking corrective action. But the response is yet to come.
Reddy told Bangalore Mirror, "The problem is the BDA has built the retaining walls without a concrete base. So every time there is a shower, these walls collapse. It has been close to a month that I wrote to them. They say they have to call the experts who built the Outer Ring Road."
The BDA, however, maintains it has been strengthening the retaining walls every year. "We'll reconstruct it, we need to work out a budget," a BDA official said.