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Half hearted storm water drain cleaning in Bellandur ?

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minus43 - 20 June, 2009 | Bangalore | Drains | Citizen Reports | cleaning | Everything else | Bellandur Lake

Recently the BBMP has taken up storm water drain cleaning in preparation for the monsoon. However it seems like they are going a half hearted job. A strech of drain has been cleaned on Bellandur Outer Ring Road and the silt has been left right besides the drain. Over the next week we will track to see if BBMP clears up the dumped silt.

Problems with such dumped silt:

  1. The silt dries up and with heavy vehicular movement and pedestrian movement causes substantial polluiton due to SPM or suspended particulate matter.
  2. Exposure of eateries across the road and street food and pedestrians in general, creates a health hazard.
  3. Rains can carry the silt back into the drains again thus effectively not solving the problem of drain blockage and causing a loss to the tax payer.
The following is a video taken on 20th June 2009 in Bellandur.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xZW_eXdIeU

--
Neeraj Bhope

COMMENTS

Nasty habit that riles me up

idontspam - 20 June, 2009 - 19:42

 silt has been left right besides the drain

This nonsense have been going on since... definitely before I was even born. I dont understand the logic of not taking the dirt away when you dig it up. This is such a nasty habit that it irritates me to no end every time I see it or hear about it. I am sure everybody here knows about this. If they cant get these basics right forget about administering a city.

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SWD maintenance is a vicious circle and a nexus

Vasanthkumar Mysoremath - 21 June, 2009 - 04:08

 

Every time it happens - identification of SWDs for clearing, calling for tenders on the eve of monsoon months, delay in awarding contracts and finally just before the first showers, work starts, silt is removed and dumped just on top of the SWDs so that with minimum water flow, the muck gets back into the SWDs; they choke and again tenders are floated by the next monsoon. 

If the muck is removed immediately after the drain is cleaned, problems related with choking and clogging of drains, over flow of rain water, inundation of low lying areas, spread of epidemics, mosquitos can be avoided.

But our system works with such unabated nexus. 

Street Committees may take such blatant disregard of rules and regulations seriously and group themselves, go to the authorities, stage a Dharna and get things done for the benefit of the society?

- Only babies that cry gets the milk. 

- Vasanth Mysoremath

   

This time they are clearing the dumped silt

parisarapremi - 22 June, 2009 - 11:34

@ minus43 -
    Somebody is listening to our prayers - BBMP this time seems to have woken up. The silt dumped by the side of the drains are getting cleared in tractors. Although not very efficient, these guys atleast seem to be clearing most of the debris. I also see weeds grown on the sides of the drains getting cleared near the innovative multiplex.

-- parisarapremi

Pavement stones

abidpqa - 23 June, 2009 - 14:12

One of the side effects of drain cleaning and digging of new drains is the destruction of the granite pavement stones. These are being unnecessarily broken up. This happens especially when using labor-saving devices like big earthmoving equipments.

This pavement stones are great, unique and irreplaceable feature of Bangalore that should be protected. If they are old technology they should atleast be carefully removed and auctioned off.

Reducing the severity to three-quarter-hearted now :-)

minus43 - 26 June, 2009 - 02:06

So as indicated by @parisarapremi someone indeed cleanup up a significant stretch of the dump. However there is still substantial silt dumped starting right near the Bellandur Gate signal. Will update the tread if that gets cleaned up. Meanwhile I have also sent an email to the flood management department of the BBMP informing them of the issue.

Ok its gone now!

minus43 - 26 June, 2009 - 17:55

Pleasant surprise today morning on the way to the office and just after posting the last comment :-). The dumped garbage from near the Bellandur Gate signal is gone. However, I still have two issues.

  1. All the problems mentioned earlier in this thread still have to be faced by citizens in the intermediate period.
  2. Cleaned silt that dries up sticks to the surface whereever it is dumped and the later cleaning leave this as it is. This again is a health hazard as it increases suspended particulate matter in areas of heavy traffic movement.
However, 'something is better than nothing' and 'better late than never'. I would definitely like to follow up with the BBMP to see if cleaning of drains and garbage take away can be an integrated operation so that citizens do not have to face hardships in the intermediate period. I haven't received any response from the email id floodmtgn_complaints@bmponline.org.

Neeraj Bhope

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