Rain causes deluge of problems in many areas

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE, SEPT. 22. Flooded slums and streets, stormwater channels in spate and rainwater entering houses built below road level and reports of trees crashing down in two localities bore the brunt of the havoc wreaked by heavy rains in the City on Friday night. The City recorded more than 4 cm. rain. The heavy downpour affected traffic in the night with motorists having to drive through flooded roads.

The Mount Carmel College playgrounds at Vasanthnagar resembled a large pond even after most of the water had drained by Saturday noon. Residents of the nearby hutment colony of nearly 100 homes said water entered their huts and they had to move out. The colony houses Telugu-speaking migrant workers who live in tiny tarpaulin and sack covered huts, which are barely four feet high. Because of the fear of being branded squatters and evicted, they had not dared to complain to anyone about the rain damage. Most of them were seen busy drying their blankets and mats when there was sunshine on Saturday.

The Ulsoor Channel Road-Lakshmipuram belt was another beneficiary of the rain gods. The 40-foot wide channel was in spate, washing away accumulated debris and garbage thrown in by people living on the banks. The few footbridges across the wide channel are used by hundreds of schoolchildren and adults who pass through them from Ulsoor to Lakshmipuram, which is a part slum and a part middle-class locality. The children would otherwise have to take a deviation through the main road connecting Old Madras Road and walk 1.5 km. more.

At least one and probably more of the footbridges are without proper railings, the residents told The Hindu team which went around the flood-prone areas. During the rainy season, the flood water often reached perilously close to the footbridge, and without railings, the children faced the danger of being washed away, they said.

In the case of one of the footbridges, the railings on one side were missing for more than six years, irate residents said. A more vocal elderly woman said: ``The areas on either side of the channel come under two different corporators. Whenver we complain, they pass the buck on to each other. Only when the elections approach, they come to us with folded hands.''

The problem here and in the adjoining L.B.Sastri Nagar is that many houses were built at a lower level than the nearest main road. The narrow streets are flooded with knee-deep water when heavy rains occur. ``The schoolchildren end up with soaked shoes, uniforms and bags and cannot go to school the next day and our houses also get flooded often,'' said Mr. Manohar, a resident of the area.

The Austin Town-Viveknagar belt also bore the brunt of rain damage. The rechristened Vannarpet still has a thriving colony of washermen and their streets and houses were flooded with rain water, it was reported. Most of the old houses here have tiled roofs which leak and some streets still have open drains.

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Section  : Southern States
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