BENGALURU: To pump out rain water that had flooded her house in upscale HSR Layout, an Indian American woman Meena Gupta, who is living in the city, had to seek assistance from the US Consulate in Chennai and the PMO.
Gupta (46) now plans to move back to the US. This is not the first time their house has been flooded, said Meena. “Since August 15 this year, our house has been flooded six times,” she said. On September 27, their area received 50mm of rainfall. “I tried to reach local MLA Satish Reddy, MP Ananth Kumar, Joint Commissioner and Commissioner of BBMP. Finally, the joint commissioner called back at 5.30 pm and said ‘let me see.’ This was the response to people in distress. Fearing danger to our lives, I called the US Consulate,’’ she said.
Meena, who runs an NGO Let’s Do Some Good Foundation that educates underprivileged children, is now thinking of returning to the US along with her two teenaged daughters who are 11th grade students in an international school in the city. “We Indian American women came to India with the dream of giving something back to our country, after being inspired by PM Modi’s speech on initiatives like Make in India, Digital India, Swachch Bharat and brain drain. We quit jobs in prestigious firms in the US and returned to India seeking to realise these dreams but they have turned out to be false. It’s a shame that one has to raise a hue and cry when in distress. What the Centre is talking about isn’t reflecting in the states,” said Gupta, who did her MS in Engineering from the US.
Meena said she incurred a loss of `5 lakh as her office in the cellar was flooded. She spent `15,000-20,000 to pump out water from the cellar and for scrubbing the walls and disinfecting the house after every flood. “This isn’t my plight alone. About 400 families in 5th and 6th Sectors of HSR Layout face the same. Health inspector has not visited to prevent mosquito-born diseases. The house may be strong if the foundation is strong. How else can the building withstand floods?” she asked. She said she brought her daughters to India to know their roots.