Bengaluru: Residents flood KJ George with waterlogging woes

Bengaluru: A year after Bengalureans were seen catching fish on city roads and use boats near Madivala, no significant progress has been achieved by the civic agencies to avert such flooding in the future.

Bangalore Development Minister K.J. George, who went to inspect the ongoing development works taken up in areas falling under Bommanahalli Assembly constituency on Thursday was flooded with complaints from local residents.

They lamented that work related to stormwater drains was not progressing and even today the area was getting easily flooded, creating inconvenience to residents. 

On behalf of the agitated residents, Sethumadhava, president, Anugraha Layout Welfare Association-Kodichikkanahalli, said, “We are worst affected by the floods and are forced to bear the sewage stink. The stormwater drain was initially small, but now it’s being made bigger. Work needs to be completed soon to solve our misery.” Due to the incomplete portion of underground drain at Silk Board, sewage flows into the open drains, residents complained.

Stumbling blocks
The outlet for the stormwater drain diverted to the Madivala lake has been blocked due to a stay order by a local resident, who owns the land. 

Work has been hindered for the past eight months for the same reason, resulting in the sewage water flowing back to the residential area causing severe flooding during rain, officials explained. 

Another hindrance is a bund created by the forest department to conserve the lake, which prevents the storm water mixed with sewage from flowing into the Madiwala lake, added officials. 

Mr George directed authorities to tackle both issues by offering a compensation and lowering the bund wall respectively so that the project is completed as soon as possible. 

He said that he will see to it that the funds for the same are released soon and assured the completion of the works to put an end to flooding in the area.