‘Pace up work’, riders fume at inundated underpasses

Umar Sharieef | NT

Bengaluru: Heavy rains on Tuesday brought motorists as well pedestrians to their knees as a number of underpasses here were inundated. With the IMD issuing a Yellow alert, the traffic police, as a precautionary step, put up barricades at a few of the underpasses to restrict people from entering them. This did not go down well with everyone as riders alleged they faced hardships in commuting.

“The officials need to act fast and ensure there is functioning storm-water drainage in every underpass. They must do it immediately and not wait until it rains again. When the government can go to the moon and the sky, why can’t they do this,” voiced Gowda, an autorickshaw driver. Riders commuting through Sankey Tank Road alleged traffic congestion after the police closed the underpass amid the flood.

“My colleagues and I always use this underpass to commute. But the police’s instruction to take a different route yesterday amid heavy rain cost us a lot of time, waiting in the middle of the road amid huge traffic congestions, during the rain,” Santosh, a techie, told News Trail. According to the BBMP, the department has sought for some time in clearing all the incomplete works to prevent floods in the underpass.

“What is stopping the officials from pacing up the works in taking the preventive steps rather than blocking the underpass with barricades and diverting routes”, asked Madhumita, 45, a resident of RT Nagar. One of the chief engineers of the BBMP said the department was taking steps to prevent the flooding situation by identifying all potential inundation areas and performing disaster drills. The official also added that it hopes to sort out the issues in the nearest possible.

"Necessary emergency responses in place ahead of floods", claimed the officials without naming it. On Tuesday, a biker got stuck in the Shivananda underpass after he tried to drive through a pool of water. He, however, managed to escape from what could have been a tricky situation. A few days ago, a 22-yearold woman lost her life as her car submerged inside a flooded underpass.