BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Wednesday informed the Karnataka High Court that desilting of stormwater drains (SWDs) is being carried out in the city to ensure free flow of water.

Identification and removal of encroachment are also underway. The counsel of BBMP submitted the affidavit before the division bench of Acting Chief Justice L Narayana Swamy and Justice P S Dinesh Kumar, which was hearing the PIL filed by Citizens Action Forum seeking directions to desilting and encroachment of SWDs.

The BBMP stated that tender was called on October 21, 2018, for one-time desilting for annual maintenance of 440km of lined canals out of 842 km.“Officials have taken up the task of identification of encroachments on SWDs, and have identified 2,515 encroachments. Removal of encroachments is being monitored by a panel,” the BBMP said.

Work done so far:

Encroachments identified: 2,515
Encroachments removed from 2016-2018: 428
Encroachments removed in 2018-19: 51