BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is gearing up for monsoons and has already identified 174 flood-prone points in the city. The number of such points dropped from 200 after Karnataka state Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) authorities suggested to the civic agency to remodel drains.
According to Shubha Avinash, project scientist, Hydrology section, KSNDMC, of the 174 flood prone areas, east zone has maximum with 48, followed by 30 in south, 25 each in Mahadevapura and Rajarajeshwarinagar, 22 in west zone, 14 in Bommanahalli and five each in Yelahanka and Dasarahalli zones.
“KSNDMC advised BBMP to remodel storm water drains. This includes widening or deepining of the drains and creating slopes. But this can’t be taken up in core areas of Bengaluru as there is no space. It has been done in outer areas, including Bommanahalli, Hulimavu, Madiwala and other places. Of these places, seven locations are prone to floods,” she said.
Srinivas Reddy, KSNDMC director, said earlier in Bengaluru, 30 per cent of rain water flowed into lakes and the remaining seeped into the ground, recharging ground water table. “Now, less then 10 per cent flows into lakes, 20pc flow into drains and the remaining gets collected on roads etc. This is because of concrete surfaces. There is no place for absorption,” he said.