Karnataka - Bangalore   

The day after... misery continues

By Our Staff Reporter

The Mayor, P.R. Ramesh (left), inspecting flood-hit parts of BTM Layout in Bangalore on Wednesday. — Photo: K.Gopinathan

BANGALORE, JULY 14. Senthil and P. Ganesh have been fishing in floodwaters for the past few days. Having lost their groceries in the surging water, these two and other residents in 40th Main Road in the posh BTM Layout II Stage have been busy pumping water out of their houses.

Following heavy rains in the last two days, the Varathur, Kaggadasapura, and Madivala lakes were filled to the brim. As the storm water drains could not sustain the discharge from the overflowing lakes, water gushed into many houses. Several roads in the area were under five-foot of water.

Residents were stranded in their houses for several hours as sewers and drinking water pipelines were clogged. The worst affected were 38th and 40th main roads and 1st and 2nd cross roads where people had to wade through waist-deep water.

While the people blamed the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) for the situation, the civic body passed the blame to the Forest Department, the Lake Development Authority, and the Backward Classes Fishermen's Cooperative Society for opening the four vents of the waste weir in the Madivala Lake.

Canals downstream the lake that carried water to other connected lakes had been closed as layouts have come up on them, the BMP said. Besides, residents whose houses were next to the main canal had closed it since they could not bear the stench, Jokim and Lakshman from the Fishermen Cooperative Society told The Hindu .

Admitting that they had opened the vents, Mr. Lakshman said: "It was inevitable. If we had not opened them, the lake bund would have breached." He said Michael, a fisherman from Mettur in Tamil Nadu, ferried people in a coracle across the Madivala Lake.

Residents of the 38th Main were seen removing wastewater from sumps on Wednesday. Enraged by the apathy of the BMP officials, the residents gheraoed the Mayor, P.R. Ramesh, when he visited the affected areas in the morning.

Members of the Spandana Mahila Samaj wanted the Mayor to ensure that such incidents did not occur again. "Flooding is a perennial problem here and water stagnates every time it rains. The drains here have never been cleaned properly and have become breeding ground for mosquitoes. There is stench all around and we always have health problems," Geeta Padmakar said.

The Mayor blamed the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for developing layouts on tank beds and said Tuesday's flooding was an example of poor planning by the authority. "The planners should have taken the lake system into consideration before forming the layout on a tank bed," he said.

"In the case of BTM Layout, the area lay close to the Bellandur Lake that is connected to a chain of lakes. Parts of the Marenahally, Puttenahally, and Bilekally tanks have been converted into layouts. As these tanks do not hold rainwater any more, the water enters Madivala Lake causing inundation," the Mayor said. He assured the residents that the drainage in the area would be strengthened to prevent floods.

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