Only 300 houses inundated in floods, claims George

Several houses in low lying areas in Bengaluru were inundated following heavy rainfall recently.

Responding to criticism over the handling of recent floods, Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George claimed the city was in a better position than “even global cities” such as New York.

“The rains (on August 14) was a cloud burst and nearly 18 cm came within a few hours. There was inundation in around 300 houses, but this is a small proportion of the more than 20 lakh houses in the city... In other places, such as Delhi, Patna and New York, this sort of rain caused widespread damage. Compared to other cities, Bengaluru is better,” he claimed.

He said the storm water drains in the city had a capacity only to handle around six cm of rainfall and heavy rains will lead to “some inconvenience.” “Of the 800-km drain network, work has been completed in 400-km. The rest will be done within two years,” said Mr. George.

Asked about the National Green Tribunal pulling up the state government for doing little to rejuvenate Bellandur and Varthur lakes, Mr. George said: “We had not told the NGT that the froth is due to cloud burst. We only tried to tell them that during heavy rains, the churning of water at the outlets is more and so there is more froth. We are working on solutions, but the froth will reduce only when sewage treatment plants are fully set up.”