BANGALORE: With yet another spell of heavy rain late on Wednesday evening, caused the city to come to a standstill. Till 11.30 pm, the city had received over 42.3 mm of rainfall. The Meteorological Department says that it is likely to rain in some areas on Thursday as well.
Several trees were uprooted in areas like Jayanagar, BTM Layout 16th Main, Mookambika School in Basavanagudi and Chamarajpet.
As the rain came down in sheets, many Bangaloreans were stuck in offices. Annie Monisha, whose office is on Nanjappa Road in Shantinagar, complained, “The entire street was flooded as the drainage system was clogged. The last time it rained, we faced the same issue. But the BBMP failed to rectify it.”
P Govardhan, a techie working in Embassy Golflinks Park on Inner Ring Road, said he was unable to go home as there were not enough cabs. “Many people asked their parents or spouses to come and pick them up leading to a higher density of traffic in the area. Many of them were violating traffic rules leading to traffic jams,” he said. Many residents called Express to complain about BBMP officials’ apathy. “For the last five years, every year my house gets flooded during rains. Despite numerous complaints to corporators, BBMP officials and MLAs, nothing has been done, not even basic desilting work,” said Ashok Kumar, a senior citizen living in Versova Layout in Kaggadaspura.
His house was flooded with three inches of muddy water. “My daughter has been admitted to a hospital for delivery and my son has exams tomorrow. There is no one to help us. We tried calling the control room, but got no response. We tried calling the corporator and he said he will send someone. But nobody has come yet.”
M Krishna, corporator of the area, said he had received calls from some residents in the layout and an emergency team had been sent to their homes to assist them. However, he said that Versova Layout was an encroachment on a storm water drain and this was one of the reasons why the area was being flooded repeatedly over the last six years.
“We have issued notices to these residents for encroaching on storm water drains. Because of this, the 13-foot wide drain has been reduced to just six feet. The only solution is to demolish these houses.” He also said that last week, the drains had been cleaned.