Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

Girl drowns in drain as B’luru reels under rain

- Letters@hindustant­imes.com

10 DEATHS IN THE PAST 15 DAYS IN ACCIDENTS OWING TO POTHOLES AND INCESSANT RAINS HAVE TRIGGERED A POLITICAL SLUGFEST

BENGALURU: A 16-year-old girl drowned in an overflowin­g drain on Sunday, taking the toll from rain- related incidents in the city to 10. The incident happened at Krishnappa Garden here.

Narasamma had gone to attend nature’s call when she accidental­ly slipped into the drain. Her body was later recovered at some distance from the slum where her family lives.

The family hailed from a northern district of Karnataka and earned its living working as constructi­on labourers.

Meanwhile, the city’s municipal body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, along with the National Disaster Response Force and the State Disaster Response Force, fished out the body of 22-year-old Pushpa from a storm-water drain at Kumbalgodu this morning.

Pushpa and her mother Ningamma were washed away in the storm water drain following heavy rains in the city on Friday night. Officials involved in search said efforts were on to recover Ningamma’s body.

The 10 deaths in the past 15 days in mishaps due to potholes and incessant rains have triggered a political slugfest between Congress and the BJP.

Speaking to reporters in Mysuru, Chief Minister Siddaramai­ah hit out at the BJP for politicisi­ng the issue.

He said his government has taken up the repair work and clearance of the 850-km storm water drain network in the city by allocating Rs 800 crore.

“No government including the BJP has done it in the past. Now they are playing politics over deaths,” he said.

Siddaramai­ah said he had been residing in Bengaluru since 1983 and he had never seen such large scale rains.

About 46 days in the last two months gauged heavy rains, he said, adding “our drainage system and storm water drains do not have the capacity to bear it”.

BJP state president Yeddyurapp­a who visited the rain-affected areas squarely blamed Siddaramai­ah for the deaths.

Reports quoting MeT department officials suggested the city has witnessed about 1,620 mm of rainfall this year so far, breaking the record of about 1,600 mm of precipitat­ion in 2005.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from India