Local residents say blockage of rajakaluve led to breach in nearby lake
Parts of the PES Institute of Technology (PESIT) campus on Hosur Road was inundated on Friday, leaving more than 170 students in the lurch for most part of the day, after water gushed in following a breach in Rayasandra lake in Doddanagamangala.
The water from the lake flooded the campus following heavy rains in the early hours of Friday. An alert warden and security guards noticed water entering the campus after bringing down a portion of the compound. They immediately raised an alarm and directed students in the hostel to shift to the upper floors since the water-level was fast rising. The local police and the Karnataka Fire and Emergency Services were contacted around 2.30 a.m.
C. Basavanna, Chief Fire Officer, said that Quick Response Vehicles and Advance Response Vehicles from Jayanagar, Electronics City, Banashankari, Rajajinagar and South Fire Stations were rushed to the spot. “The first vehicles reached around 3 a.m. Four boats were pressed into service to rescue the students. Fortunately, there was no threat to their lives ,” he said.
The fire official said that rescue operations began around 6.30 a.m. They were shifted out of the hostel and to safe areas using boats. Several college buses, a few cars and 30 two-wheelers remained submerged.
Students of PESIT and Azim Premji University, which is also on the same campus, were to participate in Independence Day programmes on Friday. The programmes were cancelled. According to a local resident, the lake was breached as a rajakaluve had been blocked. He said that some farmers were charging money to permit dumping of construction debris in the rajakaluve.
(The Hindu)
