Bengaluru: After multiple interventions by the Bengaluru North City Corporation (BNCC), storm water drain work aimed at solving the long-standing flooding issue at Manyata Tech Park is now around 60% complete. The corporation has given the companies involved time till the end of May to complete the construction before the onset of monsoon.With every spell of rain, the flooding in the park has made headlines over the last few years, with waterlogging first occurring inside the tech park campus before spilling onto the busy Outer Ring Road (ORR) stretch outside. Even on Monday, flooding was reported inside sections of the tech park.Officials said the flooding was largely caused by a compound wall allegedly disrupting the natural flow of rainwater into the drain network. To address this, the corporation instructed three private properties to jointly construct an alternative drain.Since the area falls under the jurisdiction of the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB), a joint inspection involving the revenue department, KIADB, GBA and civic officials was conducted. Authorities initiated the construction of two parallel drains spanning a combined alignment of 1.57 km to divert excess water from Manyata Tech Park towards Hebbal Main Valley drain system.According to BNCC documents, accessed by TOI, the first drain package — stretching 622 metres from the ORR service road to Hebbal Main Valley between Manyata and Karle property — is under construction. Officials said 277 metres of RCC drain work has been completed, 345 metres of temporary kaccha drain has been executed.The second drain connection — extending 639.58 metres from Ebisu Junction to Hebbal Main Valley via Manyata Road — is nearing completion.There was initial resistance from Manyata Tech Park towards participating in the drain construction jointly with the other two stakeholders — Manfo Convention Centre and Ebisu Tech Park. However, in larger public interest negotiations were held on the issue and later stakeholders came on board and work was initiated.BNCC commissioner Pommala Sunil Kumar said: “It was not an easy job to get them to start the drain work initially. After multiple meetings with the companies, we have managed to bring them on board. They all have now agreed and the work has been happening for months now.”Officials said as of now, the temporary kaccha drains are ready while structural curing works are under way. By the end of the month, the permanent pucca drains are expected to be completed.Alternative plan ready: BNCCCommissioner Sunil Kumar said BNCC has also prepared an emergency plan in case of heavy rain before the drain work is completed. Portions of the existing compound wall may be demolished temporarily to allow rainwater into the newly-created kaccha drains.“On Monday, there was not much rain and it was clear that the tech park had slight flooding and the Ring Road was fine. As of now, water is not allowed into the under-construction drain, which is blocked by the wall so that they can continue the drain construction work.,” said Sunil Kumar.The recurring flooding issue at Manyata Tech Park also drew the attention of the Lokayukta, which took up a suo motu case. Lokayukta Justice BS Patil and Upa Lokayuktas visited the drain passing through Manyata Tech Park to assess the situation. The intervention had added pressure on the authorities to arrive at a long-term solution.
