Storm-water drains overflow with sewage and sanitary waste during monsoons near Gulbarga colony, Jayanagar, due to blocked pipelines.
Batchu Rushali
The accumulated waste in storm water drains of Gulbarga colony has led to water-clogging. Ranjita, a resident of Gulbarga Colony, said “The blocked pipeline is leading to slow outflow of water. During monsoon, the drains overflow, leading to sewage water out of drains.”
A storm water drain is constructed to tackle the overflow of drains during heavy rains. When waste is disposed in a drain, the passage of water is blocked, which results in overflowing during the monsoon season. Vikranth, Assistant Engineer at BBMP, Jayanagar says, “The drains are cleaned once per week during monsoon and twice per month on a general basis. They are exclusively meant for storm water or drain water but there are situations of sewage or sanitary flow in the drains that causes foul smell and mosquito problems.”
The residents of RBI Extension Colony, whose houses are near the storm water drains, complain of foul smell and mosquito problem. Mohammad Wasim, a resident of the RBI Extension Colony says, “We have lodged many complaints regarding the unclean drains and bad smell from the drains, not just once but a lot of times.”
Jagdish Reddy, a Lake Activist and Environmentalist of Bangalore says, “Letting the sewage into the drains is illegal and the residents shouldn’t be doing this. BBMP should manage the garbage and BWSSB should make sure that the sewage does not enter the drains as it is only meant to carry drain water. Until people are educated enough to not throw the garbage in the drains, this problem will continue.”
Assistant Enginner Vikranth said that BBMP has to identify the connection of pipelines of houses which let sewage into the storm water drains. He added, “The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board are trying to identify the connection that is allowing sewage into the drains to tackle the situation.”
Desai B.A., the Assistant Executive Engineer BWSSB, Jayanagar, said “We are trying to identify the pipeline so that we can change the connection and the approval for the project will be sent to the head office. Once it is approved and tender is finalized, a new pipeline will be started which will separate the sewage line from the drain line.”
