Bengaluru Rains: HC directs BBMP to set up ward-wise engineers to hear grievances

The Karnataka High Court Wednesday asked Bengaluru's civic body BBMP to set up ward-wise grievance cells after residents in the tech suburbs of Mahadevapura and Bommanahalli zones faced hardships due to unprecedented rains since September 30.

A division bench of acting Chief Justice Alok Arade and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty asked the BBMP to notify an engineer for each ward to respond to grievances. The City's previous council had 198 wards, but the same has now been increased to 243 as per the new law.

The BBMP advocate informed the high court that the government would install sluice gates at all lakes in the city to regulate water flow and prevent flooding in the event of heavy rains.





Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai had on Tuesday said Bengaluru has witnessed unprecedented rainfall not seen in the past 90 years. The Mahadevapura zone – a small area - faced acute flooding issues as its 69 water tanks were overflowing, he told the media. Encroachment of outlet channels and the presence of tech companies in low-lying areas have added to the problem, he said.

Only two out of the eight BBMP zones had been affected, Bommai said.

IT/BT Minister CN Ashwath Narayan – who said earlier that the government would work with the industry to find a solution to the waterlogging - has called for a meeting with technology companies at Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday evening. Top government officials, including from the BBMP, will attend the meeting.

Several people have moved to the safety of hotel rooms as homes were inundated with water from overnight showers. Posh villas and luxury flats in Yemalur, Bellandur, Sarjapur Road, Whitefield and Munekolala, all addresses of big tech firms or startups, have been badly hit. Flipkart, Myntra, PhonePe, Vedantu and a host of others have their headquarters in this region.