BENGALURU: On Tuesday, thousands of commuters, who use the Doddanekundi railway underpass to reach their offices were stranded as the underpass was blocked with sewage water, which came out of a storm water drain nearby. Every day, lakhs of motorists use this important underpass to travel along the Outer Ring Road and reach the Export Promotional Industrial Park (EPIP) in Whitefield. On Tuesday, many of them reached work late due to the backflow.
Clement Jayakumar, a member of citizens group Doddanekundi Rising, witnessed the chaos while heading to his office at RMZ Ecoworld in Bellandur. There was backflow of sewage from the Storm Water Drain (SWD) around 7.30am. It was on the road and caused water logging, forcing commuters to move to either side of the road and resulting in a traffic jam,” he told The New Indian Express.
Jayakumar immediately called the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) engineers. “The BBMP was building a culvert in the SWD and they had blocked the flow of water in the drain. As it did not rain for a few days, they thought it would be okay to keep it blocked. But sewage from nearby apartments entered the SWD and led to the overflow. Motorists saw a delay of around two hours,” he said.
By the time the BBMP engineers showed up, several people were already late for work. “Usually, it takes around 30 minutes to cross this stretch. On Tuesday, I was stuck for 2 hours. I left home around 8.15 am and ran into a solid wall of traffic much before the underpass. I reached my office terribly late,” rued Pooja Shetty, a techie.
According to the BBMP, workers arrived within one hour and fixed the issue. But cascading traffic jams continued till noon. BBMP Assistant Executive Engineer SWD, Jaisimha said that the backflow was due to work taken up by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). “The backflow was because of the BWSSB connecting a sewage line to the SWD. They are not permitted to do so,” he said.
EXPERTS
Experts say that many of these underpasses were not even required. “The Cauvery underpass is one such example. Narrow and without a good drainage system, it’s difficult to use,” said Prof M N Srihari, Traffic Expert. Ravichandar Venkataraman, Urban Expert blamed poor engineering and bad implementation. Urbanist Naresh Narasimhan said, “A drain should be put at the bottom and evacuation pumps are a must.”
Why construct them?
According to a BBMP official, underpasses are made to ease traffic congestion and in many places, locals and motorists themselves asked for underpasses.
UNDERPASSES
While Tuesday’s case might be viewed as a one-time inconvenience by officials, the city has its fair share of underpasses which are clogged every time it rains. The Kodigehalli, Cauvery, Le Meridian, Doddanekundi Village, Golf Course and Okalipuram underpasses are some of the more famous ones that residents know to stay away from during rain. Many others exist in areas like Puttenahalli, Benniganahalli and Bullahalli as well.