Amid flooding, experts seek drainage overhaul in Bengaluru
Flooding has left a trail of destruction, misery, and suffering of people living in low-lying regions of Bengaluru and other places where drains and lakes have overflowed into the homes and basements.
With continuous rains over the last couple of weeks causing flooding in low-lying regions of Bengaluru, urban experts have called for a change in the way the storm water in the city is handled.
Flooding has left a trail of destruction, misery, and suffering of people living in low-lying regions of the city and other places where drains and lakes have overflowed into the homes and basements.
The city received 233 mm of rainfall till October 18 as against the normal of 104 mm, registering an increase of 125%, as per Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority (KSDMA) data.
The rains have again exposed chinks in Bengaluru’s poor quality of infrastructure and planning, with Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai admitting that there was a lack of town planning and unscientific methods were used for creating new residential layouts.
Urban planner V Ravichandar said unless a change in storm water drainage is brought about, the situation in the city is going to be difficult. “Our growth is unplanned and rampant. We have occupied several low-lying areas in the city and these areas don’t have a storm water drain. A relook at the drainage system is much needed now,” he said.
Ashwin Mahesh, an urban planning expert, says that a fundamental change is needed in the idea of transporting rainwater through stormwater drains. According to him, the design of the city storm water drains is wrong. “Water moves faster in a cylindrical space than rectangular space. It is scientifically proven. Except for the TenderSure roads in Bengaluru, we have rectangular drainages. Apart from transporting we should use socking pits to absorb water locally,” he said.
On September 15, the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) has pulled up the agencies for inefficiency in identifying and managing storm water drains (SWDs) in the city. A performance audit report tabled in the legislative assembly on Wednesday mentioned lack of financial discipline, shoddy mapping of SWDs and tertiary drains, lack of documents related to various works taken up, and failure to clear lake and SWD encroachments.
“There were discrepancies between the figures exhibited in the budget estimates and actual expenditure recorded in the cash book. This indicated the lack of reconciliation mechanism and correct reporting of expenditure, and exposes the financial indiscipline reigning in BBMP,” the report said.
It also added that out of the 1,988 encroachments identified by BBMP, 1,225 were declared to be removed. However, evictions were incomplete and did not improve the condition of drains.
Bengaluru’s storm water drain network is over 850km. While it’s supposed to channel storm water during the rains and be empty the rest of the year, the reality is different, with the drains filled with sewage and garbage, says Naresh Narasimhan, architect, and urban activist. “I’m also beginning to think there is an intellectual vacuum in the government. There are urban experts, but they are not in governance,” he said.
BBMP in response said that under the K-100, the storm water drains are in the process of getting a facelift as part of a ₹160-crore ‘Citizens Water Way Project’. The project, with a deadline of 10 months, has been envisaged to establish the major drain as a waterway and ecological corridor, and was taken up on the lines of the ‘Sabarmati River Waterfront’ project in Gujarat, said a statement from BBMP.