The small lanes that are no wider than four feet in K.S. Garden, Lal Bagh Road, are flooded with drainage for the past three days. With all lanes flooded, the residents here have been forced to wade through the drainage water to make their way in and out of the colony.
Sounder Raj, a local resident, told The Hindu that the problem began after the heavy rain that lashed the city on Friday night.
“The slum does not have storm-water drains for the rainwater. After the heavy rain, there was reverse flow of drainage from the public toilet, which flooded the small lanes in the slum. The entire area now reeks,” he said.
Other residents, who refused to speak to presspersons initially, said that they were apprehensive of water-borne diseases breaking out in the area.
“The schools have reopened after the summer holidays. The children from the area are finding it difficult to go to school. We are worried that they may fall ill. The problem has arisen mainly because of the clogged drains,” one of the residents said.
Mr. Sounder Raj claimed that when a few residents went to meet Sudhamanagar councillor Avvai, they were reportedly turned away.
When contacted, Ms. Avvai claimed that she had not received any such complaint. She, however, said that she had voluntarily hired a private agency to drain out water from the slum.
“My father was a councillor around 40 years ago and we are long-time residents of the area. My ward has 18 slums and I am aware of the problems faced by the people when it rains heavily. There are some local problems in K.S. Garden due to which we have not been able to provide a proper underground drainage system. I will consult MLA R.V. Devaraj and try to find a permanent solution to the problem,” she said.
Meanwhile, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s (BWSSB) Engineer-in-Chief T. Venkatraju said that the reverse flow of drainage could be attributed to the clogged drainage system.
“Often, people clog the sanitary lines by throwing plastic and other waste material. With silt accumulation, the pressure increases and this leads to reverse flow,” he said.
He said that BWSSB has 120 jetting machines that are used mainly to unclog the drainage system. The BWSSB attends to more than 60 such complaints every day.
He claimed that the number of such complaints (especially soon after heavy rain) had come down.
“On an average, after it rains, we receive a maximum of around 70 such complaints.
Last year, the number of such complaints was much higher,” he said.
