JOIN USSewage water is spilling into parts of Cubbon Park, polluting the prime lung space in the city and spreading a foul smell in the area.
Regular walkers in the park say that it has been a month since the noxious discharge began, but the authorities had failed to act. “Both the government departments (BWSSB and Horticulture) have woken up only now,” said S Umesh, president of Cubbon Park Walkers’ Association.
After several complaints, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board workers are at the park now, searching for the point of leakage to fix it. Deputy Director of Cubbon Park Horticulture Department, Mahantesh Murgod, told Deccan Herald that initially they assumed the sewage was entering from the Chinnaswamy stadium side. Later, they found it was coming from the High Grounds area.
He said there had been no damage to the greenery of the park so far, but if the flow continues, it will have an adverse effect.
Umesh said, “Sewage is flowing for around a kilometre, and is polluting the Tavarekolla lake, located opposite Bal Bhavan.” Many people have complained about this, and the stench is so bad that people have to walk covering their mouth and nose, he said. “There is no appropriate security in the park to check this,” he said.
However, BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief Kemparamaiah said as soon as the complaint came to his notice on Monday morning, engineers were deployed to rectify the problem.
Ramesh Chakravarthy, a BWSSB engineer, said there were blockages, and their teams are searching for the location. The blockages could have been caused by garbage dumping. Once the problem is located and fixed, the offenders will be penalised. The leakage will be stopped by Tuesday afternoon, he said.