'Palike joint commissioners accountable for SWD eviction'

The joint commissioners of all eight zones of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will be held accountable if they fail to evict encroachments on stormwater drains (SWD) as it leads to flooding in the City, said Mayor N Shanthakumari.

Holding a meeting with the BBMP officials here on Monday, Shanthakumari said the Bangalore Urban District authorities had already surveyed all SWDs and had fixed their boundaries. “Now, the joint commissioners have to start the eviction drive in rapid pace,” the Mayor said and added that at current pace encroachments could never be cleared from the SWDs. She stressed upon preparing an action plan with a definite target for every week. The Mayor said so far encroachments had been identified at 1,418 places.

The BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayana told the chief engineer of SWD to make provisions for funds to fence the places after eviction had been carried out.