Come monsoon, the horror of the Bellandur lake overflowing or even frothing, returns to haunt the residents of Yemalur.
And it isn’t just the areas around the Bellandur lake, but several arterial roads like Hosur Main Road and areas in Electronic City are also flooded after the showers on Thursday night and Friday morning. The NICE road junction below Electronic City flyover and some parts of Old Madras Road are also flooded. Areas including Hulimavu, Arekere area near Bannerhatta road, Bommanahalli-Silkboard and Bellandur are the worst hit areas.
(Photo Courtesy: Suresh Aravindakshan)
Suresh Aravindakshan, a Wipro employee who commuted to electronic city this morning, said that a stretch of about 200 meters at NICE road junction was heavily water clogged.
"As we drove on that stretch of the road, the water level had come up till the silencer of our car," he said.
"The upper lakes have overflowed into Hulimavu and Arekere. Water has entered houses in Arekere. Yamalur, Silkboard, Bommanahalli areas have been affected as there are lakes around. BWSSB has been working on breaching the lake bypasses. There haven't been major complaints otherwise," said Mayor Manjunath Reddy, who was in Arekere ward-193, where many houses were flooded.
"Storm water drains in this Arekere area are not connected. Many property owners have given a stay order when BBMP wanted to build storm water drains. Now the ones who gave the stay order are bearing the brunt," said Manjunath.
"We have brought the machines and connecting the storm water drains because that's a quick solution to the problem," he said.
Agreeing that the situation might worsen with more rains, the mayor is said that the repairs could be done in 15 days if the city got some respite from rains.
The Bellandur lake is reported to have been overflowing since Wednesday, inundating the nearby areas and many houses. The incessant rains since the last two days flooded the road that leads to Yemalur Tech Park.
According to
The Times of India, many houses were flooded with knee-deep water, because of which, they had to come out of their homes.
Responding on the matter, mayor Manjunath Reddy admitted to being aware of the issue and told TOI that BWSSB has been directed to conduct an inspection of the area.
For the residents, getting the water out of the apartments is of primary concern.
Sonali Singh, a resident of the area told The News Minute that some apartments in the outer ring road side and a few others in Yemalur have been flooded with frothing lake, sewage and rainwater for the past two days.
“It looks like the basement of some apartments have been flooded. We have been receiving pictures of cars being partially submerged in the water. People are even asking whether it is safe to venture out,” Sonali said.
Expressing concern over accessibility to roads, she said that roads connecting Bellandur and Yemalur have been blocked. She pointed out that in spite of IISc professor TV Ramachandra's recommendation that the lake needs to be dredged, it hasn't been carried out.
Calling for immediate action by the BBMP considering the emergency of the situation, convenor of Friends of Lake, Ramprasad said, "Last year there was some amount of inundation happening, but not to this extent. This is just 65 mm rain in the last two days. Keep in mind monsoon has just started. If we can't contain this what will we do for the next few months?"
Raising the issue of wetlands being encroached upon for construction, Ramprasad said that residents should be aware whether their apartment is situated on a wetland or not and refrain from buying properties at such locations.
It may be noted that this is not the first time issues with Bellandur lake has posed concern to the residents or for that matter, made headlines.
The lake frothing was reported in April last year, after which, the degree of the frothing as well as the health issues it posed had seen an increase. The froth had, in May last year even caught
fire.
In
October last year, a resident Sanchita Jha had started a Change.org petition asking the state government to clean up the lake, citing that the frothing was causing distress to the residents.
The froth from the lake has been reported to has caused skin allergies and the online petition sought for a thorough cleanup instead of temporary solutions.
Check out more stories on Bengaluru rains here.