The deaths in the past 15 days in mishaps due to potholes and incessant rains have triggered a political slugfest between the ruling Congress and BJP
A 16-year-old girl drowned in an overflowing drain yesterday, taking the death toll from rain-related incidents in the city to 10.
CM Siddaramaiah hit out at the BJP for politicising the issue
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The incident happened at Krishnappa Garden here. Narasamma had gone to attend nature's call and slipped into the drain. Her body was later recovered at some distance from the slum where her family resides. The family hails from a northern district of Karnataka. They work as construction labourers in the city.
The city civic 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 last morning. Pushpa and her mother Ningamma were washed away in the stormwater drain following heavy rains in the city on Friday night.
The 10 deaths in the past 15 days in mishaps due to potholes and incessant rains have triggered a political slugfest between the ruling 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 stormwater 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. About 46 days in the past two months gauged heavy rains. He said, “Our drainage system and storm water drains do not have the capacity to bear it.”
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. The department has predicted a cloudy sky on and around Bengaluru, one or two spells of rain and heavy showers in some areas in the next 48 hours.
1,620 mm
The rainfall in Bengaluru this year
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