The city’s civic body has set a May 22 deadline for all agencies in the city to finish civic works near Storm Water Drains (SWDs) to prevent any flooding during rains.
Apart from ₹30 lakh allocated to each of the 225 wards for drain desilting, an additional ₹10 crore is allocated for disaster management under Brand Bengaluru. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath has directed officials to desilt SWDs wherever necessary. He said that the civic body was also borrowing a loan from the World Bank to complete the concretisation of all SWDs in the city as a long-term solution.
While BBMP has tackled flooding problems in 122 places with permanent solutions, the issue continues to fester in 74 spots. “At these 74 spots, temporary measures are in place. Earthmovers have been deployed to clear waste, fallen branches and motors to pump out water at these spots,” Mr. Giri Nath said.
Meanwhile, Mr. Giri Nath said at 124 spots, water-level gauging sensors were installed. “The sensors will indicate the water level in the SWDs. These sensors were installed with the help of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre and the Indian Institute of Science. The sensors will first alert the KSNDMC after which it will be informed to Integrated Commanding Control Central (ICCC) of the BBMP,” he said.
The BBMP, spearheading the response to damages wrecked by rains, has formed 63 multi-departmental teams at the sub-divisional level with officials from other parastatal agencies like Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (Bescom), Fire and Emergency Services, Forest Department, and others.
Mr. Giri Nath, who reviewed rain preparedness on Monday, said there was no cause for panic as these teams were on standby round the clock to respond to any eventuality. He even advised people to enjoy the rain instead of going into panic mode.
