I'll list them in the same order as in the opening post (readers may also want to read connected blogs accessible here , here  & here ).

Once again, I'd like to reiterate that whatever has been stated here is based on information gathered through hearsay, WhatsApp group messages, etc, reflecting the serious concerns that the citizens have, even as the BBMP and other 'stake-holders' refuse to engage meaningfully and comprehensively with the residents - the biggest stake-holders.

1) Ejipura-KendriyaSadan Elevated Corridor:

The following was what was conveyed by a spokesman of local MLA about a week back:

There are various reasons for the delay in the snail speed project: 

A) delay in manufacturing elements at the precast site, total required no’s are 700 out of which the facility is capable of doing only 40 per month so it might take another 20 months 

B) Bbmp is failed to speed up to acquire land for ramps from land owners - a) near St. John’s, b) Ejipura signal & c) Hosur Road junction 

C) delay in payments from Bbmp to the contractor

Meanwhile, there has appeared a report in the press that the project contractor, Simplex, is in deep financial trouble - check here . Like I had stated in the opening post - "don't know where we are headed on this. Meanwhile, mobility within and in & out of Koramangala remains a nightmare". The worst part is it will remain a nightmare even after it's complete.

2) 4th block flood mitigation plan:

The grand box tunnel drain going under the SWD at "Seva-in-action" bridge seems on hold for now, perhaps to await the laying of BWSSB's 6 ft dia pipes first. It would be best if it's just buried (see opening post for fuller elaboration).

3) 6 ft dia sewage pipeline:

An active citizen posted as below, on a local WA group:

6th Block @NGV is already facing sewage blocks - Thrice in a week they get it jet cleaned - Homes face blocks; now the 80ft road @sonyworld has a block and sewage on road past 3 months - Next 4thblock is also nursing blockages and the sewage is pumped with motors - Kamaal bakery 3 Restaurants had closed since sewage block did not ....They had to lay a new pipe from Nilgiris to just short of Kamaal bakery - BWSSB says the KC Valley project will ease all problems; KC Valley is supposed to complete by March 2020 as per NGT - BUT KC Valley works are held up with the new claim from defence that the land of 123 acres where pipeline was already laid - BWSSB is struggling to take permissions from Defence - UDD has been alerted - Before the sewage bomb explodes on 80ft road, it's time there is a large format pressure from united residents required to save ourselves from this mess which we can see coming; paradoxical but can't stop calling it a sewage sunami on 80 ft road

On 18th Dec, a news item appeared in ToI as here

Sri M Chandrappa, Koramangala Ward Corporator responded as below to the report:

An article Published today in Times of India News paper with a Old Photo sent to Press by few Sadist Residents Purposefully to misguide the public & Media.

Whereas 1st,2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th & 8th blocks of Koramangala (entire Roads) have been replaced with higher Dia BWSSB sanitary pipes 2 Years back, which was previously laid 50yrs ago by BDA during Layout Formation, Only 80ft road Will be having few problems during rains until sewage pumping facilities are ready in NGV wet-well.

As per NGT Guidelines Wet well work in NGV is in Progress, with laying of 6’ Dia Pipeline which is already coming from Bellandur lake side. Once pumping station is completed by 2020 all the 80 ft road Sanitary Problems will be solved permanently. What ever published today in Times of India News paper is wrong & false statement mentioned by Few Residents without verifying the Facts.

The earlier mentioned active citizen added as below: 

WE HAVE CATCH 22 SITUATION - A. BWSSB has planned to replace faulty subline from NGV toll Wipro signal in 2 parts  one cutting off at Sony world - This is a criticle work - BWSSB Subline will be laid next to their old line which means this will come inline of our parallel drain - Now Parallel drain also needs to be completed by next Monsoon - But sewage will take first priority then if BWSSB takes 2months for the pipeline for ex till February - Parallel drain has to start after that or will they have space for parallel drain one side pipes on 80 ft road - BWSSB AND BBMP might not be aware about this situation - We will have to call both the CE's and make a proper plan - If we look at it with an human angle and the reality yes they have a big challenge of a running sewage canal and the hazards of  retaining walls and  houses on the drain border.

In any case 80ft road will be under works for next 6months - BESCOM is planning UG ducting in 80ft road - Next white topping - Should we expect a one year shutdown of 80ft road

4) Sewarage System for TempleTrees - Cauvery Layout:

A new RWA has got registered in the area, and the MLA blessed it (supposedly from MLA fund) with Rs 5 cr for asphalting, and Rs 1 cr for BWSSB wet-well and sewage line. This is even as all concerened are silent on a question raised by me as to where the wet-well supposed to collect the sewage from S T Bed layout is supposed to be located (if one exists at all), and in Bengaluru itself you have an institute pioneering work on de-centralised waste water treatment systems - check here

5) Maestrikere:

I have no updates, except that, as everywhere else too in Koramangala, there is unending digging going on in the vicinity, both on the roads, footpaths, and as far as the eye can see.

6) White-topping:

Even as there is the talk of BWSSB re-laying a sewage line along the 80 ft road (check @ sl no 3 above), and BBMP's "flood-mitigation plan" (which has a component along this road), as also BESCOM's proposal to lay underground cables, the footpaths and drains along the roads have again got dug up, apparently in preparation for white-topping.

So, where when and how are all of the utility lines/ pipes going to be accommodated? How many more times are these going to be dug up, and will it ever end?

At the "Good Governance Day" event, on the 25th Dec, the Dy CM, Dr Aswathnarayana had talked about "GIS based road-mapping" - check here , to be launched end Jan 2020, to ensure proper sequencing of jobs being taken up. The first road that has to get onto that perhaps needs to be the 80 ft road. 

7) Srinivagilu village road one-way traffic enforcement:

As stated here , I had suggested to the Ward Committee, and thereafter to the Dy Commissioner, BBMP South, as below:

There is near total consensus of opinion among S T Bed layout residents that the Srinivagilu village road should be a one-way (for 3 & 4 - wheelers). The majority is also of the opinion that the flow should be from Ganesha temple towards Ejipura junction, which is convenient for the traffic police also, since they have a permanent post at the Ejipura junction. But, for reasons not quite clear, the one-way rule is being implemented in fits & jerks and in the wrong direction, requiring the stationing of a constable at the Ganesha temple junction (which is obviously proving difficult for the traffic police). Can this be corrected, please?

Nothing has been done about this, as evidenced by the following comment, posted recently on a local WA group, by a lady:

The one way village road ha traffic coming in the opposite direction - total mess - traffic jam for half hour - The police don't seem to be monitoring all this any more - I see vehicles coming the wrong way.

Muralidhar Rao

• favorite 32 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

It rained heavy on the 29th April (from very early morning through to mid-morning), and many parts of Koramangala (particularly the 4th block) got flooded again. There was panic allround, and responding to calls from citizens, Bangalore South MP Tejaswi Suryaconvened a joint meeting in Koramangala, next morning, with BTM Layout MLA Ramalinga Reddy, Bengaluru Central MP PC Mohan, BWSSB Chairman Tushar Girinath, BBMP Chief Engineer BS Prahlad (SWD), Chief Engineer BR Muddaraju (South), Mayor Goutham Kumar, Deputy Mayor Mohan Raju and other local leaders.

Following are the excerpts (in italics, interspersed with my comments in regular font) from a report on the meeting, in "Bengaloru Live" (for the full text of the report, click here)

Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya has directed BBMP and BWSSB officials to fast-track construction of a parallel drainage system, injection wells and desilting of the Bellandur Lake in low-lying areas of Koramangala to prevent inundation during rains.

“While most parts of Bengaluru enjoyed the morning spell of rain in the middle of summer, citizens of Koramangala and Ejipura had a harrowing experience with water spurting into their homes and flooding their streets. This is a story we hear during every monsoon and every time we hear such a story, the officials provide a band-aid solution which solves the problem only temporarily. This time, on behalf of the aggrieved citizens, we demanded a permanent solution to stop further inundation of Koramangala and Ejipura” Surya said in a statement.

So, that's an admission of the shoddy (understatement, of course) work carried out so far.

The group arrived at a three-part solution to the problem, with a 4-month deadline for completion.

The BWSSB will complete the development of a parallel drainage system to take the load off the main drain line and prevent rainwater from flowing into the sewage line. The BWSSB will have to carefully tackle a power line of KPTCL. But the water supply board has assured the representatives that it will complete the work in four months.

In the video, accompanying the report, Mr Tushar Girinath is heard talking about shifting the 6ft dia sewage line onto a road. 

From all of this, it appears the BWSSB is giving up on the plan of taking the 6ft dia pipesalong the SWD bed, even as what remains of the work is just the part where they have to be taken under the three (or more) bridges. Well, that's the most challenging, as also hazardous, part, and many of us from the Civil Society had expressed concerns about undertaking such an exercise, when we got to know about it. In fact, that's exactly where all of the problems lie - the non-transparency. By the time we got to know about it, the contracts had already been given out, and then it became too late to consider alternate suggestions we had to offer. Now, it looks like BWSSB is finding the job too daunting, and is quietly switching to accepting our suggestion. The schematic below outlines our suggestion.

I need to add here that I am again going by the media reports, and some exchanges in local social media groups. As to who convened this meeting, who all were invited to it, what were the findings, what decisions were taken, there are no official versions. A few RWA office bearers, and Ward Committee members are known to have attended, but, they too seem rather reticent about keeping the citizens informed (actually, nothing new there). 

The report further went on to add the following too:

Meanwhile, BBMP will construct injection wells at 4-5 pre-identified low-lying spots in Koramangala. The injection wells will help the water flow into the aquifers below and also recharge the groundwater wells. BBMP will also install filters to prevent the contamination of the water flowing into the groundwater table. The Corporation has previously completed an injection well project near Le Meridien Hotel at Trinity Circle and will immediately undertake a feasibility study to develop the same in Koramangala.

To give impetus to the entire solution, BBMP will desilt various parts of Bellandur Lake and start the work soon. 

Officials of BBMP and BWSSB will conduct feasibility studies for their individual projects and start these expeditiously. “We’ve requested that the work be completed before the next time it pours like Wednesday in Bengaluru. We do not want the citizens to be inconvenienced again,” added Surya.

Next day, a report appeared in the Bangalore Mirror, with excerpts reading as below (for the full report, click here):

“We have completed constructing concrete box drains between Belandur Lake to the edge of Koramangala 80 ft road. A small portion at the Seva-in-Action junction requires drilling about 45ft from the surface of the road. We need another 100 days to complete the work, which is being done using trenchless technology", Prahald, Chief Engineer (SWD) at BBMP told BM. He said the work has come to a stop for the past 40 days due to the lockdown.  

45 ft is as deep as a 4-floor building is tall. When I wrote about it - check here, I had estimated it at 22 ft. Going to be an engineering feat if they manage to complete it. And, as to the efficacy, after spending some Rs 20 cr of tax payers' money, it remains a big question mark.

The work of laying the pipelines below the Koramangala 80ft road from Sony World Junction upto Seva-in-Action junction to divert the storm water from flowing into the Rajakaluve is also stuck because of the lockdown, it is learnt. Apparently, the concrete drains and the pipelines will have chambers that collect storm water in different places. 

So, there are these concrete drains and pipelines too to be incorporated into the "white-topping" exercise on the 80 ft road, apart from the hundred other things already lined up, following what protocol, if any, nobody knows. 

Meanwhile, some random activity was noticed at some locations along the "elevated corridor". But, with the contractor in serious financial trouble even before the pandemic struck, there doesn't appear much hope of early completion of the controversial project.

There were mentions in the media about "white-topping" work resuming. But, with state as well as BBMP finances in deep trouble, here too, there's no surity as to when we can expect completion.

Other projects too appear at standstill for now.

Muralidhar Rao

• favorite 22 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

On 13/05/2020, Mr Rajendra Babu, President, S T Bed Assn (and Ward Committee member), posted as under on the local WA group:

Today Stbed RWA president RAJENDRABABU and MLA Sri RLR had meeting with BWSSB officials regarding pipe work inside SWD along with its contractor Mr Panchal, discussed to remove mud and silt on priorety then allowed to put 13 pipes to lay towards NGV only, remaining work to be carried out after rainy seasons, to make all precautions to prevent flooding and back flow from SWD.

So, unlike what I had stated in my post of 11th May (scroll above), based on comments on WA group, about the "6 ft dia pipes being shifted to army land behind Mantri, etc", they are going go along the SWD only, however daunting the task of taking them below the bridge is going to be. And, the work is going to resume only after the monsoons - that can be December in Bangalore - NGT deadline, etc be damned. Well, that's a new input.

As for the 45 ft deep excavation to lay the 'siphon' pipes below the Seva-in-Action bridge, there is no info at all.  

Further, this past Sunday, 24th May, it rained about 35 mm (heavy by Bangalore standards), and the northern half of about 100 M of the 80 ft road (from about Axis Bank to Nilgiri's) was covered in sewage, very likely flowing out of a puncture in the sewage line caused by the indiscriminate digging by the white-topping men. 

And, of course, even a 5 mm rain (very often even without that), the power supply goes off, and comes back in it's own time

That's how life goes on in arguably the poshest residential area in Namma Bengaluru.

Muralidhar Rao

• favorite 23 Likes
• | login or register to post comments

The contents are self-explanatory. The question that arises is why was such a major project, having a huge impact on citizens across a major part of the city (not just Koramangala), taken up in such a hurry, without proper planning, without wider stake-holder consultations, without proper fund allocations (particularly for land acquisition)? From the look of things, it's going to take a long long time to complete. Undoubtedly, the project proponents are largely to blame.

Page2

Muralidhar Rao

• favorite 14 Likes
• | login or register to post comments