Even as Bengaluru’s rajakaluves or stormwater drains have come into focus following flooding after heavy rains, a drain that was under construction collapsed, injuring five workers. The incident occurred at around 11.15 on Monday, May 24, at the rajakaluve near Kalidasa Circle in Bengaluru’s Srinagar.
The workers were pouring a concrete slab to cover the drain, when it suddenly gave way, resulting in about eight of them falling below. One worker, Meer Khasim (24), who hails from Kolkata, is severely injured, while four others — Asibul (22), Shivaprasad (33) and Rehman — sustained minor injuries. They were given first aid by residents living nearby, and the injured were also taken to hospital by them. As per local media reports, the workers have said that they are afraid to go back to site.
Local residents have alleged that negligence on the part of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike caused the incident. They said that even though construction was going on at the site, there were no officials or engineers present. They also claimed that, even after the under-construction stormwater drain gave in, no official visited the spot.
Earlier in May, Bengaluru saw a bout of heavy rains over a few days, which led to severe flooding of houses and roads, along with fallen trees and other rain-related complications. Following this, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had visited low-lying areas that were affected, and said that the city’s stormwater drains would be revamped at a cost of over Rs 1600 crore.
He had also said that the drains’ capacity has reduced as a result of encroachment. “We have begun fixing 400 km out of 800 km of the network, efforts are on to work on the rest. We will complete the work by this year. Until this happens, flooding will continue around rajakaluves. In the coming days, bottlenecks in low-lying areas will be fixed. We don’t want the whole city to suffer because of a few houses built on the encroached land,” he said.