Rains and floods, even city police stations can’t escape the brunt

By Y. Maheshwara Reddy | NT

Bengaluru, Nov.12:

Policemen posted at the By­appanahalli Police Station on Old Madras Road now dread rains. The cellar of the police station gets inun­dated with knee deep water and they have to keep their vehicles outside.

On the other hand, they cannot altogether avoid go­ing to the cellar as the wa­ter motor switch is located there. Hence, they have to step into the inundated cellar to switch on and off the motor. To operate the switch, they often use a broken chair. The police station was shifted to the current premises a decade ago as it had to make way for the Baiyappanahalli metro station. The station was constructed by Ben­galuru Metropolitan Rail Corporation Limited. One of the police constables said the water logging was happening as the outlet has been choked with silt. “There was no problem till last year. Now we are strug­gling to drain water from the cellar,” he added.

Rains pour misery on cops

The cellar at Byappanahalli Police Station on Old Madras Road is prone to flooding, like many other structures in lowlying areas of the city.

Hapless police constables have to often wade through ankle-deep water in the cellar. Though most of them avoid parking their vehicles in the cellar when it is flooded, one or two police constables have to enter to switch on and off the motor to pump water to the overhead tank.

On Friday, one of the policemen was seen entering the cellar hesitantly to switch off the motor when water from the overhead tank began overflowing. “I am not sure whether it is safe or not to enter the cellar when there is ankle-deep water. It is dangerous, but one of us has to switch on and off the motor,” said a police constable, adding that he has to climb on a broken chair to operate the electric motor.

The police station was constructed by Bengaluru Metropolitan Rail Corporation Limited more than a decade ago. The police station was earlier located near the railway track near New Baiyappanahalli. The station was demolished to facilitate Namma Metro construction. The new building exists around 500 metres away from the earlier place.

One of the police constables has said the water logging is happening as the outlet has been choked with silt. “There was no problem till last year. Now we are struggling to drain water from the cellar,” said a police constable. “I have already complained to the public works department to fix this issue,” said the police inspector.