Residents of Nagarjuna Enclave Condominium, a large apartment complex in J.P. Nagar 2nd Phase, had a harrowing night on Thursday. Following heavy rains, the apartment’s cellar was flooded and around 40 cars submerged.
While the residents’ pleas for help went unheard by the unresponsive civic body, city Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy blamed the builder for the tragedy.
Shakuntala Shetty, a resident, said that they were woken up by the watchman at around midnight when the water started flooding the cellar. “We were helpless and our repeated calls to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) went unanswered. Though a BBMP official turned up around 2 a.m., he soon went back saying he alone couldn’t do anything,” she said.
The flood water stood at around 15 feet in the cellar and was drained out by the personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services on early Friday morning.
Another resident Umashankar, who was all praise for their work, said that this was the first time that the 10-year-old building had witnessed flooding. “Over 35 cars and several two-wheelers parked in the cellar have been damaged,” he rued.
The retention wall of a storm water drain (SWD) that runs just behind the apartment complex gave way, leading to overflow, flooding in the area and inundating the apartment complex along with Sindhura Kalyana Mantapa, next door.
Mr. Reddy, who visited the spot on Friday morning, told The Hindu that the storm water drain behind the apartment was covered with concrete slabs, making desilting of the drain difficult. That apart, the compound of the apartment is reportedly built over the drain’s retention wall, which could be one of the reasons for the weakening of the wall. “The drain is full of silt and needs to be desilted immediately. We will remove the cover over the drain and look into who allowed the same,” he said.
