Shantinagar, Shantala Nagar and Rhenius Street residents are still pumping out water from their premises.
A day after Bangalore in-charge minister R Ashoka said that tackling the water-logging problems in Shantinagar was neither the responsibility of the state government nor that of the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), area corporator K Shivakumar on Sunday washed his hands of the situation and blamed the apartment builders for the pathetic condition arising out of the heavy rain in the city on Friday.
Though Shivakumar was miffed at the ministers for not visiting the worst-hit localities in his ward on Saturday, he was unperturbed by the woes of his area’s apartment owners.
He blamed the faulty design for the water-logging in the apartments. “They should have planned the construction of the apartments properly,” said Shivakumar.
However, the corporator pledged to improve the drainage system in the area.
“I will use most of the funds given to me to improve the drainage system of Nandini Houses, which are BBMP properties and where the civic body’s employees stay. Also, these houses lie between two major drains,” he said.
Shivakumar also slammed Ashoka and another Bangalore in-charge minister, Katta Subramanya Naidu, for not visiting the worst-hit places in his ward.
“If they made the visit just for the sake of it, then I am really unhappy. Markus Road, TK Colony, Victoria Road, and Nissan Houses were the worst hit places in my ward on Friday night. I spoke to the joint commissioner of the BBMP and he informed me that this visit was not in the programme and was a sudden development,” said Shivakumar.
The Friday rain has left residents of several apartments in Shantinagar, Shantala Nagar and Rhenius Street in a nightmarish situation.
Even after 48 hours, they were still pumping out water from their basements on Sunday. The annoyed and troubled residents had given up any hopes of getting a helping hand from the government. On Sunday evening, when DNA made a visit to the apartments in Langford Town and Rhenius Street, the flat owners were seen struggling to cope with the situation.
“The drainage system is an utter failure in this area. It has been constructed in an unplanned manner. Water gushes into Rhenius Street from both Nanjappa Circle and Richmond Road. Although we have rain water harvesting pits on the four corners of our apartment, water overflowed and gushed into the compound area,” said Mallika Gopalkrishna, president, Sukhi Apartments’ Association.
Shantinagar, Shantala Nagar and Sampangirama Nagar wards were inundated with rain water on Friday, leaving the residents fighting hard to pump water out of their houses and apartment basements. “The topography of the city doesn’t give scope for flooding. No government has ever come up with a comprehensive solution to the sewerage problem in the city. Instead of showing intelligence in cracking the problem, the government has been lackadaisical,” said Kajjat, architect and resident of Sampangirama Nagar.
Residents of Rain Tree apartments, where water level rose up to 24 inches on Friday, were also seen pumping out water from the basement.
“This apartment complex faces problem whenever it rains a bit and water flows into the basement. But on Friday water rose to such a level that it seeped through the car doors and entered the floors as well. We have all joined to disperse the water. We have to first remove the dirt in the water and then release it into the drain. There is slush all over and we are yet to clear it,” said Rajani Lakshmikanth, a resident.
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