Residents out on streets after building collapses in rain

BENGALURU: The days leading to the week of Deepawali, Vasudeva’s business usually picks up. He has been running a business selling steel vessels for the past 45 years at Kempapura Agrahara of Vijaynagar. But the rains this week have put a dampener on Vasudeva’s Deepawali spirits.

On Friday, he was seen sitting on a cement platform outside his shop which is located in a row of houses that share walls. He is scared to step into his shop as a portion of the building in which the shop is located collapsed on Friday morning following heavy rain the previous night. The building has seven houses and a few shops and is located on 7th Cross of Magadi Road (near Anjana Theatre). The building has 30 residents.

Savitha, a resident who works at a plastic factory, said a portion of the building collapsed when they were sleeping. “Around 3am, we noticed that the roof was crumbling. We sensed danger and immediately stepped out of the house or else the entire structure would have fallen on us,” she said. She and her family later moved to a relative’s house nearby.

Selvaraju, a resident who lost a portion of his house, said they had managed to move their vessels and furniture outside. Similarly, several other residents of the building were seen sitting on the road along with their household items. As they could not cook food, the local councillor arranged food for all of them.

Dhanalakshmi, whose house is next to the one which collapsed, was scared to enter her house. Her husband was at work while she, her in-laws and a toddler were seen sitting outside the house. “We don’t know where to go. We can’t leave our belongings here, neither can I enter house. When the neighboouring house has collapsed, I don’t want to take the risk of staying inside the building,” she said.

Ananth, whose house is located close to the building that collapsed, said his house too was damaged. “When a portion of the other building collapsed, a part of it fell on my compound, damaging the property. Two two-wheelers parked in my compound too were damaged,” he said.

The city is likely to receive more rain as the Karnataka State Nature Disaster Monitoring Centre has predicted moderate to heavy rainfall for the next three to four days. “The South Western monsoon is retreating and is expected to stay for the next four days. As the monsoon retreats, it will bring heavy rain,” Srinivasa Reddy, director of KSNDMC said. Heavy rainfall is expected till October 17.

Footpath caves in

At V V Puram near Jain College, a part of the footpath caved in on Thursday. Two cars parked on the footpath were stuck and police had to use a crane to remove the vehicles. Locals said cobblestones had been laid recently on the footpath. Vani V Rao, V V Puram councillor, blamed the BWSSB. “All these manholes and chambers are more than 50 years old. Despite our repeated pleas, they have not changed or repaired it.” She said she will soon call a meeting with BWSSB, BBMP officials along with Chickpet MLA R V Devaraj.