Bangalore: Schools in the rain-battered city have declared holidays and companies have asked their employees to work from home. This city however, continued to reel from the aftermath of the torrential downpour that threw life out of gear Monday, with a fresh spell of rain only adding to the woes of the citizens, Tuesday
Bikers pushing their two-wheelers stuck on flooded roads and pedestrians struggling to walk in knee-deep water were a common sight in some places Tuesday in the country’s IT capital.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai cited ‘unprecedented rainfall and overflowing’ water bodies for the deluge. However, he assured his government’s commitment to restore normalcy.
Bommai also faulted the ‘maladministration’ of the previous Congress governments for the present situation of the city. He insisted only two zones bore the brunt of rains although a picture was being painted as if entire Bangalore was struggling. One rain-related death, electrocution of a woman, was reported from Siddapura.
“Karnataka, especially Bangalore has not received unprecedented heavy rain… for the last 90 years such rain has not been recorded. All the tanks are full and are overflowing, some of them have breached, and there have been continuous rains, every day it is raining,” Bommai said.
“Basically the issue lies in two zones, particularly the Mahadevapura zone for reasons such as presence of 69 tanks in that small area and almost all of them have either breached or are overflowing. Secondly, all establishments are in low lying areas, and the third is encroachments,” Bommai stated.
His government has taken it as a ‘challenge’ to restore normalcy and engineers and workers and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams are working round the clock, Bommai informed.
Blaming ‘maladministration and unplanned administration’ of the previous Congress governments for the present misery, Bommai asserted they had given permissions for construction activities ‘right-left-centre’ in the lake areas, on the tank bunds and buffer zones.
Meanwhile, citizens continued to face difficulties and roads, streets, posh localities continued to reel under water. Expensive top-end cars and vehicles lying under water, even in areas that have luxury villas, was a common sight.
“I came by tractor as roads are all submerged in water, also our vehicles are under water… I have exams from tomorrow, so I have to go to school,” a girl dressed in uniform said.
“Water has not receded, as there was rain once again last night (Monday), in fact I feel it has increased. I have to go to the office, kids have schools, and I somehow used a tractor today. Request the government and authorities to do something and restore normalcy,” tweeted an office-goer.
Several private schools have declared holidays and switched to online teaching for a few days. Many firms have suggested that employees work from home.