Looking at the pattern in which Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been working in the last month, it seems like BBMP is waiting for a tragedy to happen before it starts working on an issue.
Following a death of 15-year-old boy, who was sucked into a storm water drain near Manyata Embassy Business Park, BBMP is working on recognising and cleaning storm water drains (SWD) around the city to avoid such tragedies.
Rescue workers from the fire and safety department recovered the body of 15-year-old Prakash at 8.05am, a day after the incident happened.
BBMP has filed a case against the software technology park, which is spread over 300 acres, for negligence, illegal encroachment and for illegal diversion of the SWD where the boy drowned on Wednesday.
The case against the tech park was filed in the Sampigehalli Police Station under sections 447(criminal trespass) and 308 A (death caused by negligence) of the Indian Penal Code.
Venkatesh Palani, who is the corporator of Thanisandra constituency said, “We have filed a case against them because they diverted the drain and also constructed an unauthorized bridge over the drain, which has blocked the natural flow of water. Heavy rains have further caused a whirlpool formation.”
According to Keshava Murthy, Sampigehalli police inspector, the tech park in its defence said that it was an overnight development and blamed it on the rains. However, they accepted that they had illegally diverted the SWD.
When asked whether BBMP should have checked this problem before a tragedy could occur, the corporator said that this is beyond their limit. “To avoid any more unfortunate deaths, we are now recognising and fixing SWDs in the city. We have found one such SWD in Manjunath Nagar,” he said.
Last month, following the death of a 25-year-old woman who fell into a pothole in Devarabeesanahalli, there was a huge public outrage against BBMP's negligence towards fixing of potholes on Bengaluru’s roads.
A campaign to clean Bellandur Lake has been going on ever since the lake started frothing about three weeks ago causing inconvenience to the public.