Rain batters protesters seeking amenities, admin to the rescue

AROUND 100 people, including small children, left the thatched huts they call home, to sit on a day-and-night dharna outside the Deputy Commissioner's office for a week, demanding that the administration grant them pucca houses and title deeds.

- DEVARAJ B HIREHALLI @ Tumakuru

But their spirits were dampened as heavy rains battered the region late Sunday evening, leaving them in the lurch with electricity poles crashing, trees uprooting and stormwater drains overflowing in some places.

Power supply was interrupted, plunging the city into darkness. Superintendent of Police Ashok KV swung into action, intimating his wife Ashwija BV, Tumakuru City Corporation (TCC) commissioner, who in turn informed Deputy Commissioner Subha Kalyan.