Chief Minister reviews rain-relief measures from BBMP war room -OxBig News Network

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar being briefed about the rain situation in the BBMP office in Bengaluru on Monday.
| Photo Credit: special arrangement

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who reviewed rain-relief measures in Bengaluru from the BBMP war room on Monday, said remodelling and removing silt from clogged storm-water drains (SWDs) are being taken up on a war footing. 

Amidst severe criticism from the Opposition parties, the Chief Minister said he had been regularly instructing BBMP officials to clear encroachments on SWDs and the prevent accumulation of silt, and work is under progress.

“Strict action will be initiated against encroachers without any bias. Of the 4,292 encroachments identified, 2,326 have been cleared,” he said, attributing the flooding in the city to the unprecedented 104 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.   

Retaining walls

“Bengaluru has a total of 859.90 km of SWDs. So far, we have built retaining walls for 491 km of drains. Construction is under way for 195 km. We have taken a loan from the World Bank to remodel 173 km of SWDs. The work is in progress and once the remodelling of all the drains is completed, flooding can be prevented,” he said.

Pointing out that 210 low-lying areas have been identified and categorised as sensitive and hyper-sensitive areas, the Chief Minister said: “Work in 166 of these areas has been completed and it is going on in 44 others.  Once these 44 sensitive areas are addressed, most problems will be resolved. Work is currently in progress in 24 of them.”

Full day city rounds on May 21

Mr. Siddaramaiah, who had earlier planned to visit the rain-hit areas along with his deputy D.K. Shivakumar, who holds the Bengaluru Development portfolio, and other Ministers, said he will now go on the city rounds for the whole day on Wednesday.

“I am aware that people will be inconvenienced owing to heavy traffic in the evening, I postponed my visit to the rain-affected areas to May 21. Moreover, there is no point in visiting after sunset as I will not be able to assess the situation,” the Chief Minister explained.

Sensitive traffic zones

Mr. Shivakumar said that traffic police had identified 132 sensitive traffic zones. “We addressed 81 of these by April. We still have 41 more spots to work on,” he said. 

“This year, we have taken up work on SWDs in the entire city. The rains have resulted in severe flooding and inundation near Silk Board and Hebbal junctions. The railway authorities have been entrusted with the task of making a path for the water to flow away. There are permanent teams to clear the fallen trees immediately so that the public is not inconvenienced. We are here for the people and work is being taken up on a war-footing,” he added.