At a time when pre-monsoon showers are flooding the city, civic agencies seem complacent in their preparedness for the forthcoming monsoon.
While the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) made a list of 201 flood-prone areas in the city and handed it to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), little action has been taken to fix the issues.
KSNDMC and BBMP officials planned to survey all the locations to choose 25 points for installation of water sensors. But they have only made three tentative choices -Madiwala lake outlet near silk board junction, Jayanagar east in Krishnappa Garden (behind Byrasandra tank) and Bapuji Nagar upstream of Galianjaneya temple.
Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister G Parameshwara had set May end to finish all preparatory work for the monsoon. Officials from both agencies assure that work has been ongoing.
KSNDMC’s scientific officer-Hydrology Shubha Avinash is hopeful that the work should be over by end of May. She said her agency is working with BBMP to identify the flooding points based on previous flooding history.
BBMP officials also assure that desilting and other work on stormwater drains will be done to install water sensors. But a Palike official who did not wish to be named admitted that readying all 201 places could be difficult.
Both the agencies are planning to take up work at areas near drains in the first phase, depending on how the monsoon behaves. The KSNDMC also wants to independently review the works done by the BBMP in all wards.
KSNDMC has listed vulnerable locations based on its mapping of the flood-prone areas since 2011.
Some of the vulnerable spots in the list include Jayamahal road (from Doordarshan center to JC Nagar), Shivananda Junction (where BBMP is building the steel flyover), UB City Road, Indiranagar 80 feet Road, Kalyannagar 100 feet road, Kadugodi, Yeshwanthpur Railway station, City Market (KR Market), Wilson Garden up to Bannerghatta Road, Vidyapeeta Circle and Someshwara colony near silk board junction.