Criminal case against Manyata for encroaching on SWD: Mayor

'Tech park must compensate family of boy washed away in drain'

A criminal case will be filed against Manyata Tech Park for encroaching upon the Veerannapalya stormwater drain, in which a 15-year-old boy was washed away on Wednesday evening, Mayor B N Manjunath Reddy said on Thursday.

“Manyata Tech Park has encroached upon the SWD and built a road. It ignored multiple requests to clear the encroachments. Wednesday’s unfortunate incident is a clear result of this,” he told reporters after inaugurating a Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) commercial complex in Vasanthnagar ward.

But an officer at the Sampigehalli police station, which has jurisdiction over Veerannapalya, said that so far no one had filed a complaint against Manyata Tech Park with regard to the encroachment of SWD or the drowning of the teenaged boy, Prakash. “If a complaint is filed, we will discuss the matter with our higher-ups and register a case accordingly,” the officer added.

The mayor, who visited the spot on Thursday morning, announced compensation for the boy’s family and said Manyata Tech Park would be asked to pay the compensation. He also declared that BBMP officials would be held responsible if such accidents recurred and said instructions had been given to the Palike to clear all encroachments on stormwater drains across Bengaluru.

Meanwhile, BBMP Joint Commissioner (Yelahanka Zone), Sarfaraz Khan, told Deccan Herald that the land on which the SWD canal was located behind Manyata Tech Park belonged to the park. “Heavy rains in the last few days and a blocked SWD led to the incident,” he added.

BBMP officials, who visited the spot on Thursday, demolished a ramp that leads to the SWD, with the help of civil defence personnel. The officials said they would soon clear the remaining encroachments.

The SWD connects to Horamavu lake which in turn leads to Yemalur lake on Old Madras Road, according to Narayan B S, a resident of Veerannapalya. “Because of encroachments, water doesn’t flow into the waterbodies but overflows. Each time it rains, there is flooding,” he added.

Boy’s body fished out
Police and emergency services personnel on Thursday fished out the body of Prakash who had drowned in a storm water drain on Wednesday evening. The operation began around 7 am and by 10.30 am, the body was spotted about 100 feet from the pipe.
Retrieving the body was a tough task as the water was filed with filth and divers could not get into it. The body was later sent for post-mortem, police said.