Bengaluru: With monsoon having set in, the residents of Postal Colony in Sanjayanagar are a worried lot. The major storm water drains at Sanjaynagar continues to remain clogged as no action has been taken by BBMP authorities for the last four years, despite repeated complaints by residents.

Plastic bags filled with garbage, broken glass pieces, coconut shells, and other rubbish has been rotting in the drain for the past four years. Hence when it rains the roads get inundated and nearby areas get flooded.

“Storm water drains in front of houses have been covered by slabs. But they are left open at street corners. The open drains encourage people to dump garbage and the drain gets clogged. When it rains, the water accumulates and the garbage gets soaked,” said a resident, Muralidharan.

With no way for the rainwater to trickle into the drain, it just flows down the road and places the public and the motorists in danger, defeating the very purpose of a storm water drain, he added.

The accumulation of garbage for years also poses health hazards among the residents. The residents complain that they have been bringing up the issue with the authorities, but to no avail. "I informed the health inspector last year. They said they’ll look into it but nothing ever happened,” said Muralidharan.

“The condition is disgraceful. Most of the drains are choked with wet and dry garbage. This is the situation in all the six major drains. The borewell and tap water pipes pass through, clogging the channel as well. It has become a breeding ground for mosquitoes,” said C. Vilas, Secretary of the Residents’ Welfare Association.

“We have been complaining to the authorities for the past 3 years. They have never cleaned the drain before or after the rains. I informed MLA Narayanaswamy and Corporator Indira during the residents’ welfare meet, this month. But no action has been taken until now. We are tired of following up,” Vilas said.

When the issue was brought before Senior Health Inspector Vishnu Rao, his response was, “There is no dumping of garbage in storm water drains. If it is there, we can get it cleared in half an hour.”

He continued, “Nobody has complained to me about this earlier. But we informed the AEE and AE, 15 days ago. They said they will look into it.”

DC speaks to Assistant Engineer, Sanjayanagara, Shankara Bharathi. Excerpts.

Garbage is being dumped into the storm water drains of Postal Colony, Sanjayanagar for the past three years. Why it has not been cleared?
I don’t know of this problem. We supervise all areas and clear garbage every day. I have not earlier heard of garbage being dumped into the storm water drains of this area. There is a Facebook group for solid waste management, and normally, complaints come up there and we solve it. This has never come up.

The residents say they have been complaining to various officials, but nothing has been done…
I have not received any complaints from the residents about garbage in the drains. Last year, we had some complaints and we had desilted the drains. We cannot remove garbage if it is throughout the length of the drains. If it is in one or few parts, we can do it. Unless residents bring up the issue through complaints, we can’t solve it.

The corporator of the area said that she had Whatsapped the pictures of garbage in the drains to you a month ago and asked you to look into it.
I don’t know of this. She might have told me. I know that the corporator has informed the health inspector directly of such problems. But I don’t recall getting anything on Whatsapp.

What can be done about the problem and how many days will it take to get it solved?
Tomorrow we will inform the junior health inspector and supervisor. They will go for the spot inspection. I cannot give you a proper estimate of how many days it will take to clear the garbage. Once we see the situation, we will know.