The chief minister said the special task force would see to it that in the next three to four years the stormwater drains are built properly so that the city would not be flooded, while he stressed the need to take stringent measures to avoid the recurrence of floods in the city, according to news agency PTI report.
"We have to remove encroachments, but influential people interfere and do politics. We will remove encroachments mercilessly because if we don't take harsh steps, there will be flooding again in Bengaluru," he said. Bommai apprised the House that the Karnataka High Court has given an order that no other agency has the power to grant a stay, be it the deputy commissioner or Tahsildar, on removing encroachments.
The Chief Minster stated that he has ordered preparing a comprehensive masterplan involving the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, Bangalore Development Authority and the Bengaluru Metropolitan Region Development Authority. Already, there are two masterplans of Bengaluru, but a new one is needed, said the Chief Minister.
The Karnataka chief minister said he has approved ₹600 crore for the development of Bengaluru, which includes ₹300 crore for remodelling of the SWDs, according to news agency PTI report. Additionally, the Chief Minister said he has ordered having sluices in major lakes in all the four valleys of Bengaluru - Hebbal valley, Koramangala-Challaghatta Valley and Vrushabhavati Valley. He said he has directed the civic agencies to set up sewage treatment plants to prevent sewage going into the lakes and polluting them.
Meanwhile, he said out of 42 lakes closed down in Bengaluru so far, 28 have been "swallowed" by Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), five by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), one is BDA authorised, and seven by encroachers.
(With inputs from PTI)
