BBMP submits action plan for stormwater drains

The BBMP on Tuesday submitted an action plan before the High Court of Karnataka to clear encroachments on stormwater drains as directed by the court.

The plan states that the length of the drain in the territorial jurisdiction of Bangalore city was 842 km. Of this, the remodelling, construction, maintenance and desilting of 177-km of drain have been completed at a cost of Rs 1,367 crore.

The remodelling, construction and desilting of 192-km of the drain are in progress at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore.

Tenders have been invited to take up the work on 20-km of the flood-affected area at a cost of Rs 117 crore, which also includes the procurement of three robotic excavators.

The work was in progress for desilting and maintenance of 155-km of the drain at an estimated cost of Rs 26.60 crore.

For the remaining 239 km, remodelling, construction and desilting are to be done for which the estimates were being prepared. The earthmovers cannot be deployed in narrow and congested areas of the drain, the plan stated.

The BBMP has identified 102 vulnerable reaches in Bangalore where waste was being dumped into the stormwater drains. To avoid this, chain link fencing work was being taken up.

The report also states that 23 narrow bridges have been re-modelled by increasing the width from 8 to 20 metres.

The revenue department has prima facie identified encroachments on the stormwater drains, out of which 60 per cent have been cleared as on January 2018. For the remaining area, the Palike has asked the department to conduct a survey and give it a report, so that the civic body can take action to clear the encroachment.

The Palike also submitted that there were 28 pending cases against it and the state government before the city civil court and the high court. The encroachments would be removed once the cases were disposed of, the report said.

The court adjourned the matter to Monday.