BENGALURU: Every time the city receives heavy rain, roads turn into rivers, homes get flooded, underpasses become death traps, and business gets affected. The city’s poor infrastructure gets exposed each and every time there is heavy rain.
Citizens and civic activists are left wondering if the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) learns any lessons at all and why it can’t take permanent measures to prevent a repeat of rain-related emergencies. Many residents, frustrated with having to put up with inconveniences every time the city receives heavy rain, said they don’t need a ‘Brand Bengaluru’ but a ‘Livable Bengaluru’.
Netizens lambasted the state government and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, sharing photos and videos of flooded areas on Monday. Without addressing the major issue of urban flooding and rain havoc, the DyCM is aspiring to bring in multi-crore projects like tunnel roads and skydeck as part of the Brand Bengaluru initiative, many users noted.
Stressing that the recent flooding in the city is a direct result of rampant concretisation, civic activist Srinivas Alavalli said encroachments of lakes and stormwater drains, construction over natural paths of rainwater lead to flooding. “We need to reverse this, and it will likely take years provided there is political will and adequate resources in terms of funds and human resources are available with the BBMP and other civic agencies.”
“This year, we have seen drought, heavy rain and flooding; so it is clear that Bengaluru is facing a climate crisis that needs urgent action. We have a Climate Action Plan that needs to be implemented at the city scale,” he said.
Citizens Agenda for Bengaluru Convenor Sandeep Anirudhan too felt that the root cause of flooding in the city was concretisation. “On one side, rainwater that had to seep into the ground is running off causing floods and on the other hand, water is not able to penetrate the ground and recharge the aquifers, leading to water scarcity,” he said.
China’s Shanghai, which once went full-on concretisation, realised its mistake and came up with the ‘sponge city’ initiative, where concrete was replaced with permeable pavements, and green cover was improved, making way for water to drain into the soil. “Bengaluru badly needs initiatives like ‘sponge city’, we need to improve green cover and wetlands, and prevent encroachments of stormwater drains to ensure that the city will continue to be livable, he said.
Many underpasses, including those at Jakkur and Panathur, were closed for traffic. At many places, personnel from the Fire and Emergency Services Department were pressed into service to pump rainwater out of houses and apartment complexes.
Rainfall recorded
from 8.30 am on August 11 till 8.30 am on August 12
Highest rainfall of 61.5 mm was recorded at Kodigehalli and Radhakrishna Temple Ward.
57.5 mm at Shanthi Nagar, VV Puram, Sampangirama Nagar.
56mm at Basavanagudi, Vidyapeeta and Kumaraswamy Layout.
55 mm at Garudacharpalya and Nayandahalli.
54 mm at Hagadur and Varthur.
53mm at Jnanabharathi and Rajarajeshwari Nagar
More rain forecast
Bengaluru Urban district will receive rain till August 17, according to IMD sources.