Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar face public ire during tour of Bengaluru's flood-hit areas

Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar faced public ire on Wednesday as they toured flood-hit areas of Bengaluru, where over a thousand families have been struggling with their houses inundated by rainwater mixed with sewage.

Blaming the previous BJP government for delaying flood mitigation works, the chief minister set new deadlines to fix different flood-hit areas.

The inspection, which began around 1 pm — an hour behind schedule — continued till 5 pm through Nagawara, HBR Layout, Geddalahalli railway vent, Sai Layout, Panathur Main Road, Silk Board junction, and Gurappanapalya.

Residents of Pattandur and Varthur took to social media, claiming they were asked to assemble in a school and locked up until the CM left

At HBR Layout, residents shared their frustration, saying the CM met only Congress workers, ignoring flood victims, terming the inspection a ‘tokenism’. At Sai Layout, residents demanded that the CM get off his bus and hear them.

Siddaramaiah eventually obliged, and gave a patient hearing to complaints before moving on. Once he left, frustrated residents turned their ire on local MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, alleging inaction for over a decade.

The inspection at the rest of the places went off smoothly. At Nagawara, Siddaramaiah acknowledged the encroachment of the rajakaluve as a major cause of the flooding. “I have directed officials to remove encroachments under disaster management guidelines immediately,” he said.

He also noted that the CEO of Embassy Group has offered to construct a drain within Manyata Tech Park to help mitigate flooding within 90 days. The convoy also stopped at Panathur main road, a stretch notorious for flooding up to four feet deep. The road was severely damaged and not motorable. “About 80 per cent of the work on road widening and the railway bridge is complete,” the CM said. “I have instructed officials to finish the remaining work within 45 days.”

At Central Silk Board junction, another chronic flood-prone spot where water from four directions converges, the CM ordered BBMP, Namma Metro and NHAI to coordinate efforts and devise a solution.