Stormwater drain shrinks as BWSSB builds UGD line near Manyata

The BWSSB has reduced the width of a primary stormwater drain near Embassy Manyata Business Park to build underground drainage.

The stormwater drain, which was nearly 30 ft wide, has turned into a dumping yard with a huge pile of mud covering a large portion of the drain. The drain overflows even with a spell of decent rain.

The drain flows in Hegde Nagar and Thanisandra before joining another drain that receives water from Rachenahalli Lake and Hebbal Valley. Water from the valley then flows downstream towards Kalkere Lake.

While the BBMP has built concrete walls on some portions of the stormwater drain, the BWSSB’s underground drainage work has completely destroyed the natural drain as the massive pipelines have come up inside the drain. Worse, after completing the UGD work, the BWSSB has not even removed the large quantity of mud that continues to block the flow of water.

A field visit also showed substandard drain remodelling by the BBMP as the concrete wall near an apartment block inside the tech park is likely to collapse soon as it has already tilted towards the drain.

BWSSB officials said the UGD line was taken on the drain to maintain a proper gradient. “As we have to ensure the flow of sewage through natural force, we had to maintain a certain slope. As the stormwater drain was really wide and the catchment area did not receive much water, we decided to take the UGD on the drain itself,” a senior official said and promised to get the mud cleared by next week.

Local residents said the BBMP should not have allowed the BWSSB to narrow the stormwater drain.

“The tech park always gets flooded whenever there is heavy rainfall. There have been frequent instances of overflowing drains near the two bridges,” said Sanjeev Dyamannavar, who commutes on the stretch.

He also objected to the plan of increasing the height of the drains inside the tech premises as there is a high chance of water flowing reverse and impacting other areas.