Bengaluru has seen disruption and devastation of an unprecedented kind when sudden downpours flooded the city and its suburbs, bringing misery to thousands of people and causing much damage.
A young lady was electrocuted while wading through water, and a good part of the city floated in flood waters. People travel in boats, vehicles are towed away, and lanes have turned into rivers.
Flooding is the norm at the slightest hint of rains now, and what is concerning is that both the government and the BBMP seem clueless about how to mitigate the suffering of the people. Floods are largely a man-made problem in Bengaluru. Given the undulating topography of the city, flooding should not have been an issue at all, but over the years, encroachment of stormwater drains (SWD) and lakes and illegal constructions have constrained the free flow of water. It was the IT corridor part of the Outer Ring Road, where many buildings are directly or indirectly owned by politicians, that was most impacted. That is testimony to the havoc that rampant encroachment of lakes and lake beds has led to. Such encroachments and flagrant violation of building plans are common across Bengaluru, and that could not have taken place so blatantly without the active connivance of the builders’ lobby, local corporators, the BBMP, bureaucrats and politicians. Unless this nexus is broken, there is no hope for the city, which once prided itself as most liveable and stress-free.
The BBMP seems to have forgotten the basic requirements to keep the city running. Besides encroachments and unscientific concretisation of roads, the main reason for flooding is the clogging of both SWDs and feeder drains. The civic body, which remains in slumber through most of the year, gets into work mode only after it starts raining and much damage is done. While small encroachments over SWDs are cleared, big builders, who are the real culprits, go scot-free. Besides, Bengaluru has grown beyond its carrying capacity and is literally bursting at the seams, with all promises of setting up satellite towns to reduce the burden on it remaining on paper.
The government should immediately undertake rescue, relief and rehabilitation operations, not only in the IT corridor but also in various slums and low-lying areas that are equally affected. Draining the city and getting it back on feet and wheels should be the first priority. More rains are predicted in the next few days. The minimum that the authorities should do is to ensure that the coming rains do not bring more misery. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has said that instructions have been given to ensure that the construction quality of rajakaluve is good. The rains may not wait for that.