Four families of the Krishna Northwoods Villa near Chokkanahalli, Hegde Nagar, in Bengaluru North spent a sleepless night on Sunday after the compound wall of an adjoining farm collapsed due to downpour.

It was around 3.30 am when gated villa community realised the wall had collapsed. Immediately they vacated the building. Kitchen utensils in four affected villas were damaged in the incident.

Shekar, a resident of Krishna Northwoods Villa, said, “We were jolted out of our sleep when we heard a loud thud at 3.30 am. Soon, we found out that the kitchen wall and a portion of the ceiling collapsed, damaging the utensils. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in the incident. Also, snakes and insects, along with rainwater, entered the house from the nearby farms.

Residents expressed their anguish against the builder for constructing the compound wall using substandard materials.

Bharathi, who has been living in the Northwoods Villa for the last five years, said, “In the last two weeks, we had faced a lot of problems due to heavy showers. We had a tough time in removing the rainwater from the house. Now, our kitchen has been damaged beyond repair in the compound wall collapse. The wall collapse exposed the substandard construction by the builders who make lofty claims about the quality and safety measures adhered to while selling the houses/villas.”

Meanwhile, the builder, Jayaram, has a different take on the wall collapse. “Huge volume of rainwater was accumulated near compound due to rampant encroachment of Rajakaluve. It has posed a hurdle to smooth flow of rainwater from the farms nearby. This resulted in accumulation of rainwater near the compound. The wall eventually caved in on Sunday night.”

Residents of Purvankara Apartment in Chokkanahalli stayed wide awake through the night, thanks to an overflowing stormwater drain in the neighborhood which left their basement flooded.

Trouble began when the common wall separating the apartment and the drain collapsed due to the downpour, inundating the basement, where 10 four-wheelers and 6 two-wheelers were submerged in muddy water.

As if this wasn’t enough, at 3.30 am the apartment plunged into darkness after a transformer suffered extensive damage, said Ankitha, a resident of the apartment.

Residents protest

Fed up with the apathy of BBMP and inundation of water inside their homes again, residents of Fathima Layout in Thanisandra, North Bengaluru, staged a protest on Monday morning by blocking the road.

“For the past 20 years, we have been facing a lot of problems during the rainy season. The authorities have been of no help. We complain to the BBMP every year, but nothing has been done, hence today we protested against the authorities,” said Imtiyaz Ahmad, a resident of Fathima Layout.

Wall collapse, overflowing drains leave residents sleepless