Now, sewage trouble plagues rain-hit areas in Bengaluru

BENGALURU: Even as the intensity of the rain has reduced, the worst is not over for the residents of Yemalur and Bellandur two of the worst-hit localities in the recent deluge. Now, the residents here are dealing with sewage from drains.

Crosswinds, a gated villa project with 10 swanky homes, is completely flooded with sewage from the rajakaluve connecting to Bellandur lake. Little ahead, Devarabeesanahalli (DB Halli) Road is closed for traffic as the road is under 4 ft of water. The road is also home to thousands of migrants, mostly construction workers and waste pickers, whose houses are flooded forcing them to shift to safer places, mostly along main roads and empty shops. “Our shanty homes are completely flooded with sewage.

All our ration, clothes and documents are washed away. We fled the area with children and the elderly. We haven’t taken a bath for the last four days. We are managing with biscuits, milk and water bottles donated to us by a few volunteers,” rued Parul, a worker from West Bengal.

“BBMP workers are working at both Divyashree apartment complex and Epsilon. The work on removing slabs blocking the drains is on. We will go by the High Court directive and clear all the encroachments blocking SWDs in this zone,” BBMP Special Commissioner (Mahadevapura) Dr KV Trilok Chandra told TNIE.

Meanwhile, Aam Aadmi Party leader and former Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao, 
who was visiting the flood-affected areas in Mahadevapura, lost his cool after he was asked by the police to leave the spot saying there was no permission for political parties to gather. “Don’t  teach me law. We have come to see the affected areas. This is a free country. Have you come here at the behest 
of your MLA?” Rao questioned the  police.