Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to submit a status report on completion of works related to remodelling, construction, maintenance and desilting of the city’s 842km-long stormwater drains (SWDs) by March 15.

“It is your duty and you have to do it in accordance with law,” a division bench headed by chief justice Dinesh Maheshwari observed, while asking BBMP to indicate the progress made after January 22, when the civic body had submitted a status report before the court.

On works being completed along 177km of SWD over the last three years as mentioned in the BBMP status report, the bench noted that the figure doesn’t indicate substantial progress.

In its status report, the BBMP had indicated that works on the 177km-long SWD have been completed at Rs 1,367 crore and claimed work on another 192km is under way at Rs 1,100 crore. The Palike said 60 per cent encroachments on SWDs have been removed.

The court is hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by Citizens Action Group, which had moved the court in 2014 seeking various directions to the civic body such as carrying out total desilting of all SWDs and also installing sewage treatment plants at the head of each SWD, before the water is let into the lakes.