Karnataka Lokayukta names top officials in KR Circle underpass case

Bengaluru: The Karnataka Lokayukta has named the Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department; the Chief Commissioner of the Greater Bengaluru Authority; and the Commissioner of the Bengaluru Central City Corporation as respondents in the suo motu case taken up after flooding at the KR Circle underpass killed a Hyderabad-based techie in 2023.

The underpass again witnessed flooding after heavy rain on April 29, and Lokayukta B S Patil visited the spot on April 30.

In the earlier case, based on reports submitted by the IGP (Lokayukta) and engineers, Lokayukta officials had sought a response from the then Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials. However, engineers from the BBMP’s stormwater drain department had blamed engineers from the road infrastructure division, and vice versa.

Considering that each division blamed the other and the underpass continued to witness flooding, the Lokayukta, on April 30, named senior officials as respondents and sought a response from them by May 20.