Despite the intensity of the rains reducing in Bengaluru on Thursday morning, the Outer Ring Road (ORR) was still flooded, making it difficult for motorists.
Traffic was still crippled on the ORR owing to water from the Savalakere lake overflowing into a nearby drain, following rains starting on Tuesday, resulting in flooding on the roads.
Though the intensity of the rains has reduced since, there was at least 2 feet of water on the ORR, starting from the Silk Board junction to Bellandur, Marathahalli, and Sarjapura Road, making it impossible for two-wheelers to pass through.
The flooding caused slow-moving traffic on the ORR, especially near Ecospace, a tech park. Residents say that the lake is overflowing after the rains and the stormwater drain (SWD) is not able to handle the inflow, which is resulting in flooding on the ORR.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mahadevaswamy, resident of Bellandur, said, “This is not the first time that the ORR is flooded and the Savalakere is overflowing. In 2017, a similar situation happened, but the agency concerned did not take any measures to solve the issue”.
“The civic body should make sure that illegal encroachments on the SWD are removed and also make the SWD big enough to handle the lake water to flow. The removal of silt and sludge from the SWD are also not done properly by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and this has led to such a situation, where the whole stretch looks like a river,” he added.
The situation was the same on the Silk Board junction, one of the most infamous traffic junctions in the city. Starting from BTM Circle towards 100 Feet Ring Road to Silk Board junction, flooding was seen near the ongoing metro construction site on the stretch.
Sharavana Kumara, a motorist, said, “Already, the road had a lot of potholes and the metro construction is also going on. Adding to this, rainwater has flooded the whole stretch, leading to a harrowing experience while driving on the stretch”.
BBMP starts culvert work
After repeated complaints about the ORR flooding after rains on Thursday, hours before the Chief Minister’s visit to the areas, the BBMP started culvert work on the SWD near Ecospace on ORR.
Speaking to The Hindu, BBMP Chief Engineer (Stormwater Drains) M. Lokesh said, “The water is exceeding the capacity of the SWDs in the area due to the overflow of the lake. Now, we are constructing the culvert”.
The BBMP also started identifying illegal encroachments near the SWD and the lake. “We are exploring whether there is any encroachment by conducting a survey. We will get a clear picture about it and if any illegal encroachments are found in the survey, we will work on removing them,” he added.
Companies on ORR opt for the work from home option
The ORR houses many IT and multinational companies and most of them on Thursday asked their employees to work from home (WFH), after the roads were still waterlogged.
Speaking to The Hindu, Krishna Kumar Gowda, operations manager, Outer Ring Road Companies’ Association (ORRCA), said, “Many companies on the stretch have instructed their employees to WFH since the water on the road had not decreased. Anyway, there were not many people affected on Wednesday as it was a holiday due to Ganesh Chaturthi and many employees had also decided to opt for WFH, since they knew that they would be stuck in the traffic jams.”
A HSR Layout traffic police official said that the water flow has slightly reduced and vehicles can move in a single lane near Ecospace at ORR.
Meanwhile, two traffic police personnel were seen clearing the drain vent on the waterlogged stretch near Ecospace, Bellandur, on Thursday morning.
