Torrential rains for two consecutive days have brought chaos in Bengaluru
Bengaluru:
Schools in parts of Bengaluru will remain closed today as the city grapples with unprecedented floods for three straight days. Rapid and unplanned urbanisation has led to massive floods that have hit many parts of the country’s IT capital.
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Information Technology Minister Dr. Ashwat Narayan will hold a meeting with IT Sectors in the Vidhan Sabha at 5 pm today to discuss the flood in the IT corridor, sources have said.
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Parts of the city that have global companies and home-grown start-ups are under water. Operations, however, have continued unaffected as most organisations, which have a hybrid work environment, asked employees to log in from home.
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Torrential rains for two consecutive days have brought chaos on the city, especially on its IT Corridor and the arterial roads.
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In nearby residential areas, roads were marooned and water and electricity lines snapped. Tractors were pressed into service to rescue residents in some of the posh housing colonies.
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Dramatic videos of rescues, flooded roads and houses, submerged expensive cars made the rounds of social media through the day.
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Flight operations at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport, which were affected due to the heavy rainfall, have returned to normal.
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The waterlogging in the city has brought into focus the consequences of unplanned urbanisation. The Bengaluru civic body has identified encroachment on 500 storm water drains that have now left the city choking in water.
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Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has blamed the ‘maladministration’ the previous Congress government for the situation. They have given permission for construction activities “right-left-centre” in the lake areas, on the tank bunds and buffer zones, he said. The BJP government, he added, has taken up the challenge to set things rights and allocated Rs 1,500 crore for development of stormwater drains, he added.
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Between September 1 and 5, some areas in Bengaluru received 150 per cent more rain than normal. Mahadevapura, Bommanahalli and K R Puram have recorded 307 per cent excess rain, Mr Bommai said. “This was the highest rainfall in the last 42 years. All the 164 tanks in Bengaluru are filled to the brim,” he added.
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“The flooding is only limited to 5-6 sq km of the 800 sq km area of Bengaluru. Only Mahadevpura zone out of eight zones got severely affected. We are using around 20 boats and equal number of pumps to evacuate the people and flush out the water. Action is taken to remove obstacles in the water ways to prevent flooding” tweeted the City Municipal Body Chief Tushar Giri Nath.
