The monsoon has begun in earnest. Adding to the danger of tree-falls during the season, which claimed two lives on Monday, are open drains.
All the storm-water drains (SWDs) in the city that were opened up in May for a “pre-monsoon” clean-up, are yet to be closed. These could become death traps for pedestrians.
To make matters worse, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has seen so many transfers in the past one month that it is not possible to hold the current lot accountable for such acts of negligence.
120 tenders outsourced
The engineers who opened the drains for cleaning them, have been transferred to other zones. The department had outsourced around 120 tenders for cleaning the SWDs all over the city. “Now that we have been transferred to different parts of the city, we are doing the job of closing the drains in the new areas. If drains in our old areas have not been closed, how can we be blamed for that,” said an engineer from the SWD department.
“Is this the season for transfers? Whom do you hold responsible for negligence leading to accidents and tragedies?” D.S. Rajashekar, president of Citizens’ Action Forum, an umbrella group of around 110 residential associations, sought to know.
“Open drains or manholes and potholes leading to accidents and deaths are almost a yearly occurrence and, the BBMP along with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board should have been prepared for the monsoon by now,” he added.
Mayor Manjunath Reddy, along with the BBMP Commissioner, held a meeting with several people across departments on Tuesday to discuss precautionary measures that they are going to take to tackle rain-related issues.
