BBMP gears up to combat Monsoons woes in Bengaluru

In a special initiative to combat monsoon woes, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has pulled up its socks to deal with rain-related issues.

Every year Bengaluru receives massive 900 mm rainfall. The precipitation is so heavy that it leads to devastation in the city. Not only it causes flood like situation in the region, it creates quite a havoc by uprooting several trees and bringing down electric poles, thus disrupting the daily lives of the people.

To ensure a better monsoon experience this year the municipal corporation here have increased the spread of Storm Water Drains (SWD).

"This year, we ensured 842 km of SWD before the monsoon and one-time cleaning of this SWD has already taken place. Our team is available for work. We have also taken up construction of SWD in a big way. Till now, we have not come across any waterlogging," BBMP Commissioner Manjunath Prasad told ANI.

"In the last few days old 300-400 trees, which are bound to fall during the storm, have been uprooted. 1,200 km of major road are being looked after by 24 teams. Each team of Assistant Executive Engineers (AEE) are responsible for every 50 km. Monsoon team with 10 male members has been provided with a vehicle and necessary equipment to patrol roads. They will look after the issue of blockage of roads and drains," he added.

"Several works including SWD is underway. However, the monsoon is not yet really began. Earlier, we had faced many problems due to rains but things are very much improving in Bengaluru," Congress' Karnataka unit chief Dinesh Gundu Rao said.

On Monday, Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara had inspected areas of Bengaluru affected by heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, which lashed the streets of the city on Sunday.