HYDRAA team in Bengaluru for study on lakes

Hyderabad: Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency officials, led by commissioner A.V. Ranganath, visited the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) in Bengaluru on Thursday to study lake protection, restoration, rejuvenation and disaster management.

The team studied methods of providing advance rain information to the public with information on how much rain is going to fall, traffic jam alerts, alternative route suggestions and alerting people to flood prone areas.

They also discussed the workings of “Bengaluru Megha Sandesha” app developed by KSNDMC, which gives ward and zone-wise information of Bengaluru’s live rainfall and flood information to its users. They learnt about giving people information on how much rain will fall in particular areas, floods, traffic jams and hailstorm alerts through the app to the public.

The officials of the Disaster Monitoring Centre explained how they are utilising 20 years of collected data to estimate how many centimetres of rain could fall and predicting flood-risk areas to help people in the at-risk locations.

HYDRAA officials, along with the commissioner, inspected the weather station at KSNDMC which records rainfall, wind speed and temperature.

After analysing the functions of KSNDMC, HYDRAA officials inspected the restoration of Yelahanka and Jakkur lakes. HYDRAA officials asked the officials of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) about the process of filling the lakes through STPs and the procedures being followed for rehabilitation of the lakes.

HYDRAA officials set up a meeting with the representatives of Vimos Technocrats, who are working to rehabilitate the lakes, and learned the details of how their company, along with locals, have worked toward beautification and restoration of the lakes and its surroundings.

The officials inspected the methods with which the 300-acre Yelahanka Lake and the 164-acre Jakkur Lake are being transformed into a freshwater lake. Along with the beautification, the authorities also examined the method of separating the water from the silt by installing culverts in the upper part to prevent sewage from entering the lake.

On Friday, HYDRAA officials will inspect more lakes and will understand how they have been restored, and will also meet the Karnataka lake protection authority officials regarding lake protection and rejuvenation.