Clear clogged drains: Namma Bengaluru Foundation to BBMP

BENGALURU: Members of Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) on Tuesday met BBMP Administrator T.M. Vijay Bhaskar and handed over a memorandum on civic issues affecting the city and urged him to take cognizance of problems such as clogged drains, delay in TenderSure project, broken footpaths and violation of building laws.

NBF CEO Sridhar Pabbisetty submitted the memorandum and said that since the monsoon has set in. there is an urgent need to de-silt storm water drains and remove encroachments from Raja Kaluves to prevent flooding. The Met department has predicted heavy downpour in June, the BBMP should carry out the above mentioned work on priority, he added. On an average Bengaluru receives 80 to 100 mm of rainfall from March to June.

However, the city has already received around 132 mm of rainfall in less than a week due to unseasonal showers. This has wreaked havoc, especially in suburbs and low-lying areas. To a great extent, this can be attributed to clogged storm water drains, he pointed out.

The delay in completion of the phase 1 of the TenderSure was a major cause of traffic congestion on city roads and inconvenience to pedestrians. The NBF urged the BBMP to expedite the completion of this project and ensure that the contractors are held accountable for the delay.

A large number of foothpaths and culverts across Bengaluru are either broken or damaged, thereby putting the lives of pedestrians at risk, the NBF memorandum pointed out. Many of the marriage halls are using their parking lot as dining halls, which is violation of Karnataka Municipal Corporations Act, 1976.

This has aggravated the traffic jams in the city, since wedding guests are parking vehicles on the road. The NBF memorandum pointed out that in 2009 BBMP had acted against 28 halls for violating the bye laws.

They requested the Adminis-trator to initiate action against marriage halls, community halls and hotels violating the building bye laws of KMC Act across Bengaluru at the earliest and also implement the Lokayukta Order, passed in January 2014, asking BBMP to take action. Mr Bhaskar assured NBF members that appropriate measures will be taken.