The monsoon is still a month away going by the Indian Meteorological Department , but the pre- monsoon showers , which are just a trailer of things to come, have already caused havoc in the city.
Bengaluru’s poor infrastructure once again stood exposed in Tuesday’s heavy rain. Ask the BBMP what it is doing to stop the rain bringing life to a stop in the city and it says it has identified nearly 250 spots that are prone to flooding even in a brief spell of rain and officials have been tasked with curbing the waterlogging in these areas
But it admits that it has desilted and built concrete walls only along 400 kms of the city's 800 km long stormwater drain network. And of the nearly 2,000 encroachments on the storm water drains, which stop them from taking the rain water off the roads, nearly 450 have been cleared, it tells you, ticking off nearly all the boxes where its job is concerned.. But clearly whatever it's doing is not enough as the city faces the same problem of flooded roads and low lying homes year after year.
"For more than a decade now we have been seeing the same problem every year. Roads get flooded as the water does not run off into the storm water drains that are filled with garbage. Houses in low lying areas are flooded with rain water mixed with sewage and man holes overflow. And as water stagnates, mosquitoes breed," obs-erves Ms Hema Latha, a school teacher in Bana shankari.
She adds angrily , "Are the BBMP officials not able to find solutions to these small issues ? Imme diately after the rain havoc we find the Mayor and the babus hopping from one affected area to another consoling those who have lost their properties and handing over cheques to compensate for lost lives. But then the very next year the same scenario is once again played out."
Mr Joseph Vijay, a resident of Chamrajpet, wonders how the Sirsi Circle flyover could get flooded in the deluge. "This is just a reflection of the poor quality of work done and the lack of maintenance by the BBMP. It's understandable if there is waterlogging on normal roads, but how can there be waterlogging on the flyover where it should easily drain off given its elevation?" he asks, adding with exasperation, " Is the problem with the BBMP or with the science we learnt at school?"
Mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun, who inspected the rain-hit areas on Wednesday, including the flooded underpasses at Madiwala, Le Meridian, and Cauvery theatre junction, however, claimed the BBMP had been doing its best to handle the situation. "All our engineers have been asked to attend to complaints of waterlogging and so on immediately.” she said.
