Karnataka: Flood Situation Remains Grim, Congress-BJP Continue To Spar

The flood situation in Karnataka continues to remain grim on Friday even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Opposition Congress continue to spar over the blame for the inundation of the state. 

Following heavy rains, many rivers, rivulets, and streams in northern Karnataka were overflowing on Friday as water was released from the Tungabhadra Dam, sources told PTI.

Sources added that water-level rose in Hirehalla rivulet, trapping five farmers on an island in Koluru village. The farmers had gone to remove the pump-set when suddenly the water-level increased and they got marooned. Soon, the others informed the police, which sent a team from the fire and emergency services. The team rescued the five and brought them to the safety.

In Vijayapura district, a bridge was washed away and some villagers went there after learning that it had developed cracks and may not withstand the flow in the Sogli rivulet. The bridge was connecting Sogli with Mookihal in Taalikote Taluk.

Reports said onions grown in a large swathe of land in the Bagalkote district were washed away due to floods.

In Yadgir, farmers got emotional before the Central team which went to inspect and prepare a report on the rain-related damage. The farmers showed to the team the damaged crops.  

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Congress party played the blame-game, which each party blaming the other for the flooding in the state, including capital Bengaluru. 

Senior Congress leader and Karnataka's Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah on Thursday took a boat ride to the water-logged Ecospace layout near Bellandur lake in Bengaluru and spoke to the residents. He also met the family members of the 23-year-old woman who was electrocuted to death three days ago in the city. The incident had caused outrage among people.

"People are suffering because of the carelessness of the government. It is justified that the people of the city are rebuking the government for being irresponsible in giving compensation to those who lost their lives due to rain and flood," said Siddaramaiah. 

Parts of Bengaluru have been flooded after days of heavy rains, leading to daily life being affected. Several localities are submerged and boats have been deployed to rescue people and as roads are waterlooged, people have also resorted to tractors and other heavy vehicles to move around the city. Visuals of posh localities with cars submerged and boats deployed have also surfaced on the internet. 

As of Thursday, water receded in Epsilon, the gated community of billionaires, including Rishad Premji near Nagawara Lake. Vinod Kaushik, the Chief Executive Officer of a construction startup told PTI that water has receded and now the residents of Epsilon have the task to clean up their houses which is now filled with slush. The areas, which were inundated following the unprecedented rains, slowly limped back to normalcy after the water receded.

BJP leader and Bengaluru South BJP MP LS Tejasvi Surya on Thursday alleged that the Congress party and some vested interests are trying to defame ‘Brand Bengaluru’ over floods in some parts of the city.He further sought to know who owned the information technology Park which got flooded due to two days of heavy rains and who encroached the lakes and their feeder canals in that region.

“The Congress party and its land grabbing leaders must answer these questions and first introspect before lecturing the BJP on any of these issues,” Surya said.

Earlier, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai blamed the "maladministration and unplanned administration" of the previous Congress governments for the present misery. He said they had given permissions for construction activities "right-left-centre" in the lake areas, on the tank bunds and buffer zones. He said they had never thought of maintaining the lakes and hastened to add he has now taken up a challenge to set things rights and had allocated Rs 1,500 crore for development of stormwater drains. 

(With PTI inputs)