Bengaluru: The rains continued to wreak havoc and death in Bengaluru with an 18-year-old girl drowning in an overflowing drain on Sunday morning, taking the toll in rain related incidents to 10. The deceased, Narasamma, resident of Krishnappa Garden, was supposed to get married after a week.
The incident happened when she had gone to answer nature's call and accidentally fell into the drain. Her body was recovered some distance away from the slum where she stayed. The family hails from Kalaburagi and worked as construction labourers.
Slum residents blamed the local corporator saying he had not done anything to ensure basic facilities including toilets, uninterrupted supply of drinking water, and a good sewage system which was blamed for the mishap.
Rescue officials also fished out the body of 22-year-old Pushpa from a storm-water drain at Kumbalgod Sunday morning. Pushpa and her mother Ningamma were washed away in the drain following heavy rains on Friday night. Efforts are still on to recover Ningamma's body.
Meanwhile, the political slugfest over the deaths due to potholes and the incessant rains, continued with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defending his government saying it had taken up repair work and clearance of the 850-km storm water drain network in Bengaluru by allocating Rs 800 crore. "No government including that of the BJP has done it in the past. Now they are playing politics over deaths," he said while speaking to reporters in Mysuru.
Siddaramaiah said he had been residing in Bengaluru since 1983 and had never seen such heavy rains. It has been raining for 46 days in the last two months, he said, adding, "Our drainage system does not have the capacity to bear it".
