Secondary drain a waste, say HSR Layout residents

Residents of HSR Layout Sector 6 opposed the construction of a secondary drain by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).

After the area was marooned following heavy rains, the civic body decided to construct a secondary drain to divert water and prevent flooding. “There is a line here already. All they have to do is to elevate the retention wall. Alternatively, they should have increased the depth of the drain during the construction,” said Major M V Nagthan, a resident of HSR Layout.

The overnight construction led to chaos in the locality as the whole of 5th Main was dug up. “This project comes under the stormwater drain (SWD) work which was allotted some time back. We have hastened the work to prevent the locality from flooding,” said Ganesh, assistant executive engineer, BBMP. The adjacent road, which is narrow and full of houses, is witnessing heavy traffic, including heavy vehicles since this is the only alternative road.

Talking about waterlogging, Pradeep Nagaraj, a resident said, “The civic body should hire experts from Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to plan the construction work. The Palike has not understood that this is a low lying area. All these days, they elevated the main roads adjacent to this road and turned this place into a bowl. Sewage water gushes into our homes during rain.”

HSR Layout was one of the first areas to get piped gas connections for cooking. As the civic body has not issued any written intimation to GAIL or other pipelines in the area, the residents fear the burst of the pipe due to the construction work. “If they crack the pipeline during the construction work, it will be a major hazard,” said Nagthan.

“We have not received any written intimation from BBMP. There are about 8,000 live connections in this locality,” said Pranesh Raghavendra Kulkarni, a representative of GAIL. However, Ganesh said, “There’s no time for us to intimate everybody. But they know that we have undertaken this work.”