BENGALURU: Several areas are flooded during monsoon in BBMP limits and officials attribute this to about more than 1,000 encroachments of storm water drains (SWDs).
As per documents available with Express, as many as 1,923 encroachments were identified by the chief engineer (Storm water drains) division across BBMP limits. Of them, only 822 encroachments were cleared and there are still 1,101 encroachments that can cause floods.
Interestingly, of the 1,923 encroachments, most of them were found in Mahadevapura (769) and Yelahanka (395) zones. At present, there are 619 and 328 encroachments in these areas respectively.
“Core Bengaluru does not have many encroachments as compared to newly added zones. This is because, in new zones like Mahadevapura and Yelahanaka, more apartments are coming up and builders have encroached drains,” a senior official said.
The data also shows West, East and South zones SWDs are now encroachment free.
'4,000 encroachments'
However, former ruling party leader and BJP city unit secretary N R Ramesh has alleged that the number of encroachments is much higher. “Within BBMP limits there are 857 km of storm water drains, of which 480 km are encroached upon. There are 14,000 encroachments and not 1,923 as stated by BBMP authorities. This apart, atleast 1,500 acres of buffer zone near storm water drains, worth `1.2 lakh crore has been encroached upon by builders,” he alleged.