BENGALURU: Horticulture Minister N Munirathna on Thursday hit out at those criticising the State Government over the recent flooding of Bellandur and Mahadevapura localities — home to several IT firms. “If you are unfit to live in Bengaluru, don’t come to the city... no one invited you in the first place,’’ the minister, who is MLA for RR Nagar, told reporters.
This comes in the wake of the State Government being trolled on social media over its failure in developing and preventing flooding along Outer Ring Road in Bellandur, Yemalur and Mahadevapura.
Meanwhile, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Siddaramaiah came out in support of those slamming the government. “People are rightly criticising the government. They are suffering because of the government’s apathy. Many areas are cut off and can be accessed only by boats. The government has not announced compensation for the families of those who have died in the floods,” the former CM said.
JDS leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy also hit out at Munirathna. “What is Munirathna’s contribution ‘percentage wise’ to all this problem (floods)? Is this the reason Munirathna has been elected? It show his arrogance,” he said, adding that such statements will drown the BJP. Congress national general secretary H K Patil, who hails from North Karnataka said, “Munirathna’s statement is insulting. People from North Karnataka come to build Bengaluru."
Former Lokayukta Justice N Santosh Hegde, who headed a committee to oversee the implementation of NGT directives with regard to rejuvenation of lakes in the city, said the main reason for the flooding was Bellandur lake not being de-silted. Former chairman of Bellandur Gram Panchayat J Reddy said the encroachment of rajakaluves are causing the flooding.