BENGALURU: After Doddabidrikallu lake was recently breached in West Bengaluru, on Saturday night it was Hosakerahalli lake that suffered the same fate.
The lake belongs to Bangalore Development Authority and is yet to be handed over to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. According to BDA and BBMP engineers, the contractor assigned to do the job of constructing and maintaining the waste weir had broken a part of the lake wall. Moreover, the sluice gate to control the water flow was also not closed properly.
Water flow in the lake increased due to heavy rain and a side of the wall collapsed leading to water entering people's homes in Pushpagiri layout, ward number 160 in RR Nagar.
The engineers said that BWSSB was also doing stormwater drain work, by digging up the side of lake, which only made matters worse.
BBMP commissioner B H Anil Kumar and Mayor N Goutham Kumar visited the site as early as 5 am to take stock of the situation. The Commissioner who is also the additional chief secretary pulled up the officials he also called for a meeting, which included all stakeholders- BDA, BBMP, BWSSB and others on Monday.
BDA engineers tried to control the situation and brushed aside their errors. They said that sandbags were used to control the water flow. They asserted that everything was under control and there was nothing to worry about.
But locals were not pleased. They blamed all the officials, irrespective of their department for the lapses and losses they have suffered. They said it was easy for officials to blame each other and the rain, but the truth is they are collectively responsible for the mess the city is in.