BENGALURU: The April 3 rainfall Bengaluru saw was enough to expose the lack of preparedness of civic agencies. As per the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre (KSNDMC), Bengaluru Urban received just 7.2mm of rain, yet most areas saw waterlogging, trees and electric poles falling and water gushing into people’s homes. While residents termed it the new normal for Bengaluru, experts said this reflects misplaced priorities of the government.
“The BBMP budget listed mega projects running into crores, like the skydeck, tunnel roads and double-decker flyovers. But a simple solution that costs only a few lakhs of rupees did not find mention -- having proper clean shoulder drains and rajakaluves and rainwater harvesting,” said an expert, wishing not to be named as he works closely with the government.
“Trees and branches are falling because of poor maintenance. The BBMP was supposed to complete the tree survey and prune branches, but it has not been done. Tree fall happens when footpaths and roads are concretised leaving no space for aeration of roots. Many action plan reports have been prepared by IISc, EMPRI and BPAC on flood mitigation and the government has to just implement it. Disaster management rests only on paper. Even small quantities of rain expose ad hoc planning by administrators,” said Prof TV Ramachandra, Centre for Excellence, IISc.
A KSNDMC official said Bengaluru gets flooded despite tech solutions and issuing alerts on time. “Government agencies look for quick solutions. But even they can’t be implemented if the natural flow of water is interrupted. Climate action plan solutions should be followed to the ‘T’,” he added.
Ashish Verma, professor and convenor, Sustainable Transportation Lab, IISc, said the construction of roads on drains is a violation of the National Green Tribunal Orders. Buffer zones along water bodies must be maintained.
“When the road size increases, water management capacity reduces. Run off is poor on concrete roads when compared to bitumen roads. Roads should have slopes on either sides and should be connected to clean, free-flowing shoulder drains. We do not see them anywhere. Solutions are simple and low cost. But the will to implement is lacking. Floods used to affect the poor, but now, those staying in upscale villas and apartments too are affected. Engineers should be held accountable for permitting construction on water bodies,” he said.
Srinivas Alavilli, Fellow, WRI India, said flooding happens whenever drains are clogged with debris and silt or encroached. “In the BBMP, road asphalting is seen as a separate task from drains and other utilities. Also downstream, rajakaluves and lakes need to be improved. Recently, the BBMP published the Namma Raste Kaipidi manual, which is an SOP for making better roads that are pothole free and drain well. It also suggests process changes to improve coordination across agencies. If this is implemented in letter and spirit, we can expect less flooding.”
Vivek Menon, a civic activist, said drains have been designed for smaller water holding capacity, and to make matters worse, they are concretised. They serve no purpose in recharging groundwater. There are too many government bodies, but they have no solid coordinated management plan and no foresight. There are jurisdictional egos among departments and officials. There is a solution to fix the problem, but will is needed, he said.