As many as one hundred residents of Royal Residency Layout, near Hulimavu lake, staged a protest on Saturday morning demanding that authorities bring those responsible for the bund breach to book and early release of compensation.
The police have registered a case against a BWSSB assistant engineer after the lake breached its bund last Sunday and water entered around 700 houses in the vicinity. However, they are yet to determine the identity of the person who used an earthmover to break the bund.
A senior police official, who is part of the investigation team, said they have submitted a report to the government on the incident, but refused to divulge details of their findings. “Investigations are ongoing. No arrest has been made,” said the police official.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) estimates that the cost of the damage is as high as ₹29 crore.
Ravikumar B.R., a resident of Royal Residency Layout, who was at the protest, alleged that despite a police complaint, various civic agencies – the BBMP, Bangalore Development Authority and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board which is setting up an STP in the vicinity – were only indulging in a blame game.
Protesters also claimed that BBMP revenue officials, who undertook a survey to assess the damage, did not cover all the affected houses.
The BBMP has announced a compensation of ₹50,000 for all the 353 families whose houses were flooded following the breach. It has already released compensation for 156 families belonging to lower socio-economic groups. The residents, however, are demanding that the compensation be commensurate with the loss incurred.
Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy, local councillor Bhagyalakshmi Murali and BBMP's Special Commissioner D. Randeep met residents and heard their demands.
Mr. Randeep said that by Monday, the compensation should reflect in the bank accounts of the affected residents.
“We did receive complaints about houses being left out. If that is the case, we can always check again,” he said and added that the residents also sought some help from the BBMP towards early release of money from insurance companies for their damaged vehicles.
“They want a letter from the BBMP about the incident. Through the letter, they hoped to urge the government to direct insurance companies to release the compensation soon,” he added.
