The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Encroachments along storm water drains to go

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 27, 2005

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Encroachments along storm water drains to go

Staff Reporter

Even notices will not be given to the encroachers, says Mayor

WHAT ABOUT THAT: Mayor R. Narayanaswamy (right) and R. Ashok, MLA, during an inspection of storm water drains in Bangalore on Friday. — Photo: Sampath Kumar G.P.

BANGALORE: The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) will clear all encroachments that come in the way of the storm water drain network in the city. This is to align the drain network and check blockage and overflowing of drains, Mayor R. Narayanaswamy said here on Friday.

He was speaking to presspersons during an inspection of remodelling of the storm water drains along the Koramangala valley. Stup Consultants, the project designers, had conducted a survey and identified places that are encroached upon along the drain.

"These bottlenecks narrow down the drain in some places causing overflowing during rain. We will clear the encroachments, even without giving notice to the encroachers," the Mayor said.

Drain network

BMP Commissioner K. Jothiramalingam said the drain network will be aligned and the width of the drain at the starting point will be maintained all along till the end. "We will clear all encroachments and if required, we will also acquire private land. This is essential to prevent overflowing and a Mumbai-like situation during heavy rain. We also need land to have service roads along the drains to move equipment for cleaning the drain regularly," he said.

To decrease the load on the major Koramangala storm water drain, which originates from Majestic and flows into the Bellandur Lake, the BMP has planned to build a bypass box canal from this drain via Agaram to the Bellandur Lake. A similar bypass canal will be built via the Karnataka Golf Association. "We have sought the permission of the Defence authorities and the association to allow us to construct the bypass canals," he said.

Meeting

A meeting of the commissioners of the seven city municipal corporations (CMCs) and the BMP and the Municipal Administration Director will be held next week to discuss common problems and modalities on working in coordination. "I had written to Principal Secretary (Urban Development) Shamim Banu requesting her to convene the meeting," the commissioner said. A team of top officials, including Engineer-in-Chief P.K. Srihari and Technical Adviser to BMP, R. Jaiprasad, several corporators and Uttarahalli MLA R. Ashok accompanied the Mayor and commissioner inspected the drains in Shantinagar (near the BMTC depot), Ejipura (behind the National Games Village) and the Srinivagalu Tank bed area during the inspection.

Earlier, representatives from Stup Consultants made a power point presentation on the remodelling of drains along the four major valleys — Koramangala, Challaghatta, Vrishabhavathi and Hebbal. The entire project is being taken up at a cost of Rs. 380.75 crores.

"The work will be completed within 18 months. Even after completion, we need to regularly desilt the drains. As the contractors will have to maintain the drains for three years, we will desilt on a weekly or a fortnightly basis after that," Mr. Srihari said.

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