Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
B
engaluru experienced moderate to heavy rainfall from late August 11 night onwards,leading to flooding in several areas.
Heavy rains early Monday turned Bengaluru’s streets into virtual rivers, causing widespread traffic jams and leaving commuters stranded for hours. The downpour led to severe waterlogging across the city, disrupting travel and leaving residents grappling with the flooding.
The Bengaluru Traffic Police issued warnings of slow-moving traffic across key routes on August 12 morning and advised commuters to plan their travel accordingly and were on their toes and seen clearing water clogged by clearing the water by removing the waste stuck.
The police said traffic along Wind Tunnel Road was sluggish towards Kempapura due to inundation.Along Bannerghatta Road and Jayadeva,both directions are significantly congested.Slow moving traffic was reported towards Silk Board at Rupena Agrahara,the police said.
Hundreds of unsuspecting motorists and road users stranded in the traffic as buses coming from neighbouring districts jammed due to water flooding for hours.
The worst affected areas are Hebbal,Whitefield and silk board junction and Hosur road where motorists struggled to cross the flooded roads .
Many people took to social media to vent their ire we dont need smart City but basic infrastructure for brand blore..a twitter user quipped.
The opposition BJP echoed the voice blaming the ruling Congress party for the floods and blamed poor infrastructure which is causing dent to the image of the city.
Six people including a woman sustained injuries when a roadside tree branch fell on them while they were crossing the road .
The Sultanpet main road in the Chickpet area was submerged till the level of a bike handle as water entered into their shops,
Deputy chief minister also in charge of the Bengaluru district,DK Shivakumar visited rain affected areas and gave directions to the BBMP officials.
Mr. Shivakumar also praised the hard work of the traffic police to manage the traffic and helping the commuters in all possible ways.
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Speaking to the media Joint Commissioner of traffic MN Anucheth said that even though many area affected due to rain related flooding the situation was under control and normalcy restored.
The people vent their ire of BBMP for bad infrastructure and many low lying areas flooded including some apartments in Whitefield.
Social media was flooded with photos and videos of the tech city’s roads submerged after the heavy rains, revealing vehicles struggling through the floodwaters and causing widespread traffic disruptions. One user posted an image on X showing long lines of vehicles caught in the traffic, captioned, “Manic Monday #Bommanahalli Bengaluru City Traffic.”
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar,who is also in charge of Bengaluru development, visited some of the rain-affected areas to assess the situation.”If water has entered apartments and houses,let’s rectify it.We want the groundwater levels to increase,”he said.
Noting that areas around Bengaluru like Ramnagar, Channapatna,Kanakapura,Magadi,Tumakuru,Kunigal and Kolar have not received good rains,he further said:
“Malnad,coastal and other places have received rains so that dams are filled, but here rains are not enough, groundwater levels have to increase.”
Bangalore South MP and BJP leader Tejasvi Surya said the waterlogging and flooding in Bengaluru,after a few hours of rain in the early morning, once again exposed the absence of municipal leadership in the city.
“For a long,we have implemented band-aid solutions to Bengaluru’s traffic problem and poor urban infra, instead of approaching it from the perspective of a well-structured town planning body. Such solutions only fix the symptom and are not the remedy for the problem itself, he posted on ‘X’.
He said ‘Brand Bengaluru’ stands for technology innovation, unmatched talent pool and rich local culture, but sadly,”only the traffic,water logging, potholes and garbage management issues seem to be marking our brand.”
“I had highlighted how the city lacks a directly-elected mayor with a workable term of 3-5 years who can be held accountable for the city’s urban infra. Global cities like London, New York and Paris have such strong powerful mayors looking solely into the city’s needs,” Surya said.
He said the Congress government has neither taken any step to form the Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority nor has it delegated traffic engineers any power to plan the traffic management of the city. “Unless we take up town planning and rework on our layouts, ‘Brand Bengaluru’ will remain a dream.”
