BENGALURU: The bouts of rain occurring over the last three days in the city have made the lives of nearly 25,000 residents in and around Panathur thoroughly miserable. The railway underpass here, located 600 metres near Bellandur Road railway station, was flooded upto 4 feet making passage through it impossible.
Barricades have come up near the bridge to prevent public from venturing through it. BBMP claims they have pumped out the water regularly but rain floods it again in the night as it is a low lying area.
A design engineer working at an MNC said, on the condition of anonymity, that the thought of leaving for work to Kadubeesanahalli on Monday morning is dreadful. “By using this bridge, I just need to ride 3.5 km to reach my office. Now I have to do a detour via Varthur and must travel nearly 10 km to reach my office,” she said.
There are many apartments near the S-bend of Balagere Road leading from the bridge and they release their sewage here. “So all of us bikers as well as pedestrians are literally wading through the sewage water when we pass through the bridge,” she adds.
Praveen Gowda, another local pointed out that MP PC Mohan had tweeted nearly two years ago about work having begun at Panathur RUB through soil testing in July 2020. “However, there has been no progress since then,” he charged. “What is worse is that BBMP officials are blaming residents for buying property in such an area where illegalities abound rather than finding a solution to it,” he added.
Ramesh, Assistant Engineer, Major Roads, Mahadevapura Zone told TNIE, “We are pumping out the water whenever possible. But when it rains heavily, it fills up again as this is basically a low-lying area. Due to the same issue last year also we have created a new road from Bellandur BWSSB plant to Kadubeesanahalli through Vibgyor School. Public can use it as well as use two other routes.”
Tree falls on tracks, delays train
Bengaluru: The Tuticorin Express on its way to Bengaluru was delayed by one hour on Saturday night after a tree fell on the tracks between Mysuru New Goods Terminal and Naganahalli. “The tree was promptly cleared by our staff to facilitate train movement,” said Chief Public Relations Officer, South Western Railway, Aneesh Hegde.