BBMP yet to finish desilting work in City

With monsoon round the corner, it looks like waterlogged roads and clogged stormwater drains will be a common sight as BBMP is yet to complete desilting in the City.

While, ideally the work should have been completed by now, BBMP officials maintain that the delay has been caused due to the long wait for the approval of the desilting project budget. According to a BBMP official, there are 37 identified critical areas in the City that are prone to flooding due to clogs in stormwater drains. The Palike has already started desilting work in 12 locations, including Shivajinagar, Central Silk Board and Jeevanahalli.

However, tenders have already been floated and work has to be carried out at the remaining locations. There are also certain locations where contractors are not coming forward to take up work, like in Shivajinagar and MV Garden. An official said that work is in progress at Nayandahalli Cross and the stormwater drain around the Gali Anjaneya temple. However, if there is a heavy rain, these places will get flooded.

The official agreed that cleaning of stormwater drains is a perennial problem due to dumping of garbage and debris dumping into the drains. He said that the public fight with officials, asking them to allow dumping of debris in stormwater drains.

BWSSB has begun desilting work at sanitary drains, but with most of the manholes and lines running along the stormwater drains, any amount of desilting will not yield good results. Further, with BBMP finding it difficult to dump garbage at the landfill in Mandur, many residents dump waste inside the drains, unaware of the consequences.