JOIN USThe last few weeks have been hell for Bangaloreans. The evening rains have wreaked havoc on the roads and brought into the open the messy and infrastructural shortcomings of the City and its civic authorities.
The situation has become worse with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) digging up several places across the City, especially eastern and northern parts. According to the BBMP and BWSSB, low-lying areas such as Ejipura, Koramangala, Kamakshipalya and Gurappanapalya, near Jayanagar have had excess water-logging.
Despite tall claims by the agencies of work being done, the City is always in a mess after a heavy downpour and commuters confess that they take longer to reach their destination than usual. Ajay Kamath, a life sciences professional, who lives near Race Course Road and works near Bannerghatta Road points out that the areas in and around Arekere always get flooded.
“It has been a problem travelling around the City in the last one month with continuous rains and trees fallen in the road. The stretch below the Jayadeva underpass and Baldwin School on Hosur Road is always flooded,” he states. Ajay says that although the authorities have claimed that they have been doing a lot of work but nothing seems to be visible.
It is not a very different story for Krithika Raghu, a programme manager who has to travel from Bangalore North to her office in RT Nagar everyday. “Travelling on potholed roads is an adventure of sorts. Each day tests the sturdiness of my bone structure and examines my navigational skills of reaching the destination, without falling into a crater. When it rains, the potholes are full and the pavements are virtually invisible. It’s chaotic on the roads,” she observes.
Roshan, a student lives in a paying guest accommodation in Ejipura. He points out that the recent rains have rendered the roads unmotorable. “When it rains, the potholes become more visible and you really can’t distinguish between a road and a pothole because even the potholes get filled with water,” he shares.
A senior officer with BWSSB, claims that they have taken up desilting of manholes in low-lying areas of the City on a priority basis. “A few sewerage lines, which are more than 30 years old, have been taken up for replacement and rehabilitation work,” he states. He further states that the BWSSB has started desilting the manholes and relaying some of the underground pipes but he says that they will not be able to do a proper job until it stops raining.
Commissioner of the BBMP M Lakshminarayana concedes that it has been a testing time for both the authorities and people. “The City has recorded high rainfall but there haven’t been too many problems that we have had to deal with. We will complete filling up all the potholes in a month’s time,” he says. He thinks there is excess water logging on the roads because the underground pipes are too old and must be replaced on an urgent basis “The overflowing manholes and broken underground pipes have made it difficult to maintain the roads in good condition,” he states.
B Dayananda, additional commissioner of police (traffic), says that he had a tough time diverting traffic and clearing traffic blocks after the heavy downpour. “We had to deal with very slow-moving traffic, overflowing manholes and fallen trees in several parts of the City,” he adds. He further states that traffic crawled in areas around the Central Business District. “We also had a lot of cases of vehicle break down due to water-logging. The staff who worked on the morning shift were called in to work round the clock to ease traffic congestion across the City.”