Residents of three houses near Gujjarkere lake are struggling with overflowing drains following heavy rain. On Tuesday, work on laying underground pipeline began so that the collected water could flow easily.
Vandana Praveen, a resident of one of the houses to which the drain runs parallel, said the problem was nothing to do with the lake. She said that her house faced the problem of overflowing drains this year following heavy rains. The stagnating water in front of her house was a health hazard.
Suresh Shetty, the former corporator of Gujjarkere, told The Hindu that the wastewater was related to the lake. He said that the problem with the lake was that there was no drain for excess water to flow out of it. He said that not including drainage to the water in the lake was a design blunder. The design should have included a drain while cementing the sides of the lake. “You can't stop a lake from draining,” he said.
Mr. Shetty said he would take up the issue with the officials concerned. If the excess water from the lake flowed into a proper drain, there would be no problem. Now, they have built a wall around it but the main drain has not been connected to the drain of the lake, he said.
Rajashri Madhukar, corporator of Ward 58, who was at the site on Tuesday, told The Hindu that she had been trying to convince the officials concerned for a long time that the drains around Gujjarkere should have been constructed first before cementing the sides of the lake. She said she would get some lime sprinkled around the area.