A visit to Madinanagar in Mangammana Palya anytime during monsoon may scare you, as the area neither has a asphalted road nor a proper drainage system.However, the silver lining is the proactiveness of the residents here, who have pulled in funds collectively to buy mud from the demolition trucks, to lay the road themselves.Mangammana Palya is not what one would call an upscale locality; the neighbourhood comprises tailors, drivers, house painters and security guards.Residents say they are largely ignored by the elected representatives.“They visit only during the time of elections,” says Sajeeda.Afzal, a resident says, “When we complain, they only give us assurances.” Sajeeda says that for the past 17 years, there has been no proper drainage system in place.The drainage chute from the house leads to a narrow drain that runs across the road and ends in a small pool, just opposite to her house.Her neighbour’s house has a largely makeshift drainage system in place; the water from the drain pipe falls into a shallow hole that they have been dug up.When the hole fills up, they manually empty the water elsewhere.Both houses are apprehensive about the coming monsoon.Despite having small projections that rise from the ground, that leaves only threefourths of the door visible, they say that the water still manages to seep in.Further in, the problems are much worse.Open drains, littered with garbage, are a common sight.Many houses have been flooded and Afzal says many have vacated their houses due to the ongoing difficulties faced while living here.Mohammed Musthak, another resident, adds, “At least some work has been going on with the drains, but the most serious issue is the water supply.” Several residents have not been receiving water for many months now.While the BWSSB officials said that work is in progress to supply Cauvery water, the residents have not even been receiving even Corporation water.The corporator, Syed Haseena Taj, said that she has been sending tankers to the area, with the money allotted in the budget.However, resident Noor Jahan, on her way to collect water said that she paid `50 for the water.A BWSSB official said that they charge `50 per month, as sanitation fee.However, Noor Jahan says that she has to pay this amount every few days.An immigrant from Tamil Nadu, she moved here with her family in search of a more comfortable life.Now, she says, “We are comfortable, and we have food, but we are dying for water.” When City Express asked Haseena about the problems in the area, she explained that this is the first time the BBMP has allotted a ward to this area, and therefore development is slow.She also said that “Only `1 crore has been allotted, of which we are doing whatever we can.” Commenting on the sanitation issue, she mentioned that a pumping motor had been installed to address the issue of flooding.When speaking about the drainage system, she added, “the pipeline is not clear and work is going on to clear it.” However, when asked about the date of completion of the project, she had no clear answer.BWSSB officials said that work is in progress to replace the old drainage system and it would be completed in one year’s time.Srinivas Murthy, Executive Engineer from BBMP, said that the area had no proper sanitation system in place.“All the waste is left to the stormwater drains.” On the flooding of houses, he said that they had set up systems in place so that water could be diverted to the stormwater drains.However, he mentioned, “there is one house that is obstructing the drain.We have set up a regular pumping system there, to reduce flooding.” He lamented the fact that there was no proper solution to the problem.He added that they planned to continue work on the other areas, and they hoped that the residents would agree to let work progress after seeing development in the nearby areas.
Comments
0 comment