As Bengaluru continues to be ravaged by floods, Karnataka minister, CN Ashwathnarayan, has called upon a meeting of representatives of several IT companies at 5 pm on Wednesday, 7 September, to discuss the issues that they are facing due to the severe rains in Bengaluru.
In light of the weather conditions in several parts of the city, schools in some areas have decided to remain shut or shift to online mode of teaching.
Following three days of heavy rains, floods and overflowing lakes, water levels in several areas of Bengaluru dropped today. The flow of traffic is starting to clear up, however, Bengaluru residents are concerned as the weather department has predicted that a downpour is "very likely."
Karnataka Minister Ashwathnarayan To Hold Meeting with IT Reps
Karnataka minister CN Ashwathnarayan plans to hold a meeting with the heads of several IT companies to discuss the issues faced by them due to the heavy rains in Bengaluru.
Chief Secretary to the state government, Chief Commissioner of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Water Authority officials, Urban Development Department officials, and the City Police Commissioner will be a part of this meeting.
Businessmen can openly talk about the problems that they are facing due to the rains, Mr Ashwathnarayan had said earlier.
The representatives of Infosys, Wipro, Emphasis, Nasscom, Intel, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Goldman Sachs, Philips, Sonata Softwares and others will attend the meeting, Ashwathnarayan told ANI.
In the meeting, the representatives of the corporate companies will discuss the issues that the rain has caused them, and the BBMP Chief Commissioner will present a slideshow.
Mr Ashwathnarayan claims that the state government is trying to solve the problems that these companies face.
IT industry veteran and former Chief Financial Officer of Infosys Ltd. TV Mohandas Pai said that the havoc caused in Bengaluru due to heavy rains was a result of multiple factors, including bad governance, high corruption and lack of urban reforms.
Both political leaders and bureaucrats have failed the citizens, Pai said on the floods.
"Result of ineffective government, bad governance and high corruption. Money is allocated and largely shoddy work due to high corruption, lack of capability in the corporation, illegal construction, the list goes on," Pai told PTI.
Due to the flood-like situation in several parts of Bengaluru, a city which is known as the tech hub of India, various people working in the technology sector went to their workplaces on tractors on Monday, 5 September, as the roads remained inundated.
Holidays Announced for Schools in Parts of Bengaluru
With many parts of Bengaluru still inundated, a holiday has been declared for schools and high-schools that fall under South-4 BEO. This applies to all schools in KR Puram due to the extremely heavy rainfall in the area in the last two days. Many private schools have shifted from an offline to an online mode of education.
Karnataka HC Directs BBMP To Start Grievances Redressal Centres
The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday, 7 September, directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to establish ward-wise grievance redressal centres to address the issues faced by the public due to the heavy rainfall and flooding in the city this week.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajit Shetty criticised the situation in Bengaluru, where rains have seriously disrupted the daily lives of the people in the city.
"All the drains are full. Roads are full of water. People are suffering. Have you started a complaint redressal centre for this?" the Bench asked BBMP.
Advocate V Shreenidhi, representing BBMP, told the court that officials are working on addressing the issue, however, the Bench directed the establishment of ward-wise grievance redressal centres.
Bulldozers Deployed to Clear Encroachments
After severe flooding in Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli areas, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner, Tushar Girinath, said that the bottlenecks that encroached on stormwater drains have been identified and notices have been issued.
Th BBMP has idenitified 696 encroachments, with the higher number of 175 encroachments were in Mahadevapura, 110 in East zone, 59 in West zone, 20 in South zone and 126 encroachments in Dasarahalli zone.
The Commissioner said that BBMP served notices to 32 people for encroaching on drains in flooded areas.
The heavy rains in Bengaluru and surrounding areas had affected pump machines and drinking water supply in the city at the third and fourth unites of the Cauvery catchment area in TK Halli.
Chief minister Bommai said in a midnight tour of parts of Bengaluru on 7 September that there will be no water problem in the city today onwards.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) took to Twitter to say that the drinking water supply has been restored. In the tweet, they said, "From today morning 6:30 AM all the pumps are operating in TK Halli to the full capacity."
(With inputs from TNM, NDTV, PTI)
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