Hulimavu Lake breach: 319 houses badly damaged in Bengaluru; fogging operations on

Bengaluru, Nov 26: Hundreds of residents of eight localities near Hulimavu Lake in south Bengaluru on Monday scrambled to save what they could after water from the breached lake gushed into their homes on Sunday.

BBMP officials said 319 houses had been badly damaged. The civic agency’s employees and pourakarmikas began cleaning and fogging operations in affected areas to prevent outbreak of disease.

While around 150 people still remained at three BBMP relief centres in the area, 300 left early in the morning.

BBMP commissioner BH Anil Kumar ordered more sandbags be placed to strengthen the temporary embankment put up to seal the breach. Kumar added that BBMP would give a minimum of Rs 10,000 compensation to each affected family, besides the Rs 40,000 compensation announced by the chief minister. The compensation can be increased depending on the losses.

With three lakes in Bengaluru breaching in the past three months, BBMP has decided to review all water bodies in its custody. Officials said at least 58 lakes which were handed over to them by BDA in 2016 pose a risk to people in their vicinity.

Karnataka Lokayukta Justice Vishwanath Shetty directed civic agency chiefs to submit an interim report within two weeks on the reason for the lake breach. After a spot inspection, he said negligence on the part of a few civic personnel has affected thousands of people.