Date:10/05/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/05/10/stories/2004051012510300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

BMP asks Housing Board to share cost

By Our Staff Reporter

The drain on which the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has taken up work.

BANGALORE, MAY 9. The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) has written to the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) to bear the expenses to be incurred on removing silt from the 800-metre covered portion of the storm water drain running along the Malaprabha Block in the National Games Village and the Indira Gandhi slum in Ejipura.

The Bangalore Mahanagara Palike implemented the proposal to remove silt from the drain a week ago following the overflowing of the drain during the recent rain in the city.

"We are using a machine called `proclain' to remove silt from the open stretch of the drain. But we have to clear the covered portion manually, which is a costly and laborious exercise," the Executive Engineer of the Mahanagara Palike, B.T. Ramesh, said.

"The project is estimated to cost over Rs. 40 lakhs but the Mahanagara Palike has sanctioned only Rs. 8 lakhs. That is why we have asked the Housing Board to share the cost," he said.

The Neelasandra corporator, B. Selvam (in whose ward the drain is located), said the deck was a major obstacle to water flowing in the drain, which was the only channel to carry water coming from Subashnagar up to the nearby Koramangala valley.

Pointing out that construction was not permitted on the drains, he wondered why the Mahanagara Palike was keen on removing the deck.

"The Housing Board is planning to construct a market complex on the drain," he claimed.

The Mahanagara Palike Assistant Executive Engineer, Narayan Reddy, said the civic body had taken up work on the drain to prevent further flooding. "As the pillars of the deck are installed in the drain, garbage gets stuck and hinders the flow of water. This leads to inundation of low-lying areas in and around Ejipura," he said.

The Housing Board officials, however, disputed this. The inundation of low-lying areas in Ejipura was because of indiscriminate dumping of garbage in the drain and not because of the construction of pillars, they said.

"There is water-logging in Ejipura as it is located in a low-lying zone. The drain is at a height preventing flow of rainwater into it and the sewage causes overflowing of the drain," the officials said.

RCC deck slabs were used to cover the drain to help residents of flats in the National Games Village to make use of it, they said. "The deck has been laid to avoid stink from the drain, which is 1,085 metres long, running up to the Bellandur Tank.

"The width of the drain is reduced to eight metres just after the Games Complex, and it is because of a bottleneck at this narrow juncture that the water level rises," they said.