BENGALURU: As the incessant rains continued in Silicon City Bengaluru, IT and BT Minister CN Aswathanarayana has called a meeting of the representatives of the heads of several software companies at 5 pm on Wednesday to discuss the problems created in the city due to the unprecedented rain.
Chief Secretary to the State Government, Chief Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Water Authority officials, Urban Development Department officials, and City Police Commissioner will be participating in this meeting which will be held in the conference hall of Vidhansouda.
He has already said that businessmen can freely speak about the problems they are facing due to rain.
He informed ANI that the heads or representatives of companies like Infosys, Wipro, Mphasis, Nasscom, Goldman Sachs, Intel, TCS, Philips, Sonata Software and other companies would attend the meeting.
Participants will discuss issues faced by them in the meeting. Besides, the BBMP Chief Commissioner will present a PPT on the problems of the city.
The State Minister said that the state government is sincerely trying to solve the problems faced by the companies.
As Bengaluru continues to witness severe waterlogging due to heavy downpours, a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has been deployed to rescue people from an inundated residential society in the city.
Locals in Bengaluru continued to bear the brunt of severe waterlogging as water is yet to recede from roads and bylanes after the downpour.
Many parts of the state are witnessing flood-like situations due to heavy rains.
With Bengaluru reeling under severe waterlogging due to incessant heavy rains, on Monday many IT professionals in India's Silicon Valley resorted to tractors to reach their workplaces.
Yemalur which is close to the HAL Airport has been submerged in water.
Many employees of IT companies living in the area on Monday took tractors to reach their offices.
However, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday blamed the previous Congress government in the state for the current situation in the city.
Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said, "Karnataka especially Bengaluru has received unprecedented rains. This kind of rain has not come in the last 90 years. All the tanks are full and they are overflowing. There is continuous rain. Even today it is raining."
He said, "This happened because of maladministration and totally unplanned administration of the previous Congress government. This is the result of the bad administration of the Congress government. They never thought of maintaining the lakes. They gave permission right, left and centre in the lakes and buffer zone."
"The Chief Minister said the administration is working round the clock to tackle the waterlogging problem in the city. He said control rooms have been made to resolve issues.
Earlier in July, Karnataka suffered heavy floods due to rains, after which rescue missions and relief work had to be carried out. Chief Minister Bommai also had to seek financial assistance from the Centre.
Schools have declared holidays and companies asked their employees to work from home, with a fresh spell of rain only adding to the woes of the citizens.
Bikers pushing their two-wheelers stuck on flooded roads and pedestrians struggling to navigate through knee-deep water was a common sight in some places on Tuesday in the country's IT capital.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai cited "unprecedented rainfall and overflowing" water bodies for the deluge but assured his government's commitment to restore normalcy.
He also faulted the 'maladministration' of the previous Congress governments for the present situation of the city and insisted only two zones bore the brunt of rains although a picture was being painted as if entire Bengaluru was struggling.
One rain-related death, the electrocution of a woman, was reported from Siddapura.
"Karnataka, especially Bengaluru has not received unprecedented heavy rain. For the last 90 years such rain has not been recorded. All the tanks are full and are overflowing, some of them have breached, and there have been continuous rains, every day it is raining," he said.
Speaking to reporters here, Bommai said an image was being created as if the entire city is facing difficulties, which was not the case.
"Basically the issue lies in two zones, particularly the Mahadevapura zone for reasons such as presence of 69 tanks in that small area and almost all of them have either breached or are overflowing. Secondly, all establishments are in low-lying areas, and the third is encroachments," he listed out.
His government has taken it as a "challenge" to restore normalcy and engineers and workers and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are working round the clock.
Blaming "maladministration and unplanned administration" of the previous Congress governments for the present misery, Bommai said they had given permissions for construction activities "right-left-centre" in the lake areas, on the tank bunds and buffer zones.
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They had never thought of maintaining the lakes, he said and hastened to add he has now taken up a challenge to set things rights and had allocated Rs 1,500 crore for the development of stormwater drains.
Lots of encroachments are also being cleared.
Meanwhile, citizens continued to face difficulties and roads, streets, posh localities continued to reel under water.
Expensive top-end cars and vehicles lying underwater, even in areas that have luxury villas, was a common sight.
"I came by tractor as roads are all submerged in water, also our vehicles are under water. I have exams from tomorrow, so I have to go to school," a girl dressed in a school uniform said.
"Water has not receded, as there was rain once again last night (Monday), in fact I feel it has increased. I have to go to the office, kids have schools, and I somehow used a tractor today. Request the government and authorities to do something and restore normalcy," said an office goer.
Several private schools have declared holidays and switched to online teaching for a few days, while many firms have suggested that employees work from home.
Most parts of the Outer Ring Road, Sarjapur road, that houses some IT firms resembled lakes, affecting the movement of vehicular traffic.
Tractors were ploughing through the flooded roads and streets, ferrying people to their respective destinations.
According to chief minister Bommai, some areas in the state capital have received 150 per cent more rains than normal between September 1 and 5.
Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli and K R Puram have recorded 307 per cent excess rain, he said, without elaborating.
"This was the highest rainfall in the last 42 years. All the 164 tanks in Bengaluru are filled to the brim," he said.
A 23-year-old woman allegedly died due to electrocution after she came into contact with an electric pole while navigating a flooded road at Siddapura, police said.
The incident is said to have taken place on Monday night, when the victim was returning home on her scooter.
Meanwhile, responding to the floods in the city, Telangana minister KT Ramarao called for "bold reforms in urban planning and governance."
"Our cities are our primary economic engines driving the states'/country's growth and with rapid urbanisation and sub-urbanisation, infrastructure is bound to crumble as we haven't infused enough capital into upgrading the same," he said in a tweet.
"We need bold reforms in urban planning & governance. Get away from conservative mindset," he said in another tweet.
"Clean roads, clean water, clean air & better stormwater management systems are not hard to build," Ramarao, son of Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhara Rao, added.
State Congress president D K Shivakumar on Tuesday urged Basvaraj Bommai and his administration to perform or face election.
He also alleged that the "corrupt" BJP government and its officials were responsible for Bengaluru's current situation.
"If there were encroachments during the Congress tenure, let them (BJP) clear it, they had earlier got five years' time, they had now got five years, they should have done it. Not performing while in power and blaming previous Congress governments instead is not right," Shivakumar said, reacting to the Chief Minister's statement.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, such a situation had never arisen during Congress' tenure.
"It is because of your corruption and corruption by your officials. The Chief Minister has to bear this in mind. People have given you an opportunity. In case you are not able to perform, let's go for election," he added.
Bommai, earlier on Tuesday, had blamed the previous Congress governments' 'maladministration', and unprecedented rains in the capital city, for the deluge.
The Chief Minister had accused the Congress of giving permission for construction activities "right-left-centre" in the lake areas, on the tank bunds and buffer zones, during its regime.
The state Congress led by its Working President Ramalinga Reddy, Leader of Opposition in Legislative council B K Hariprasad held a protest against the BJP government accusing it of neglecting Bengaluru's infrastructure leading to the current situation and blamed it for "bringing down the pride" of the city, stating that several IT and BT industries were planning to shift to other cities.
(With PTI and ANI Inputs)