Delhi flood threat: Water management master plan is need of the hour

Poor maintenance of drainage is only a minor reason for this mess and real culprits are planned and unplanned developments

Flooding of India’s roads year after year highlights poor urban planning; this year is no exception but for the flood fury being far more severe due to the climate crisis.

An inundated area in Delhi after Yamuna breached levels hit during 1978 floods in the national Capital. (PTI photo)

It has been pointed out time and again that poor maintenance of drainage is only a minor reason for this mess and that the real culprits are planned and unplanned developments that ignore the settlements’ land profile. In recent times these developments have become even more aggressive, less scientific and quick to complete. Pragati Maidan and the accompanying infrastructure in the heart of Delhi is a serious case in point. Literally metres away from the Yamuna, waterlogging plagues the city traffic in this area. This remains one of the most ill-informed decisions when one realises that Pragati Maidan was once a wetland in the Yamuna floodplains.

Delhi has remained a thought leader in planning with most other master plans across India copying its structure and standards. Cities across the country are flooded during the rains, not for the same reason but for the multiple ways in which their land profile and hydrology has been ignored by the master plans. Ring roads are now a national affliction, choking the surface water flow across the country. Delhi is now going for its third ring road in spite of detailed hydrological studies done decades ago by the National Capital Region Planning Board. Their recommendations were never heeded.

Delhi’s geography is also well studied, especially after detailed and expensive GIS surveys of the terrain over a decade ago. Once again, these studies never found their way into development decisions. A society obsessed with speed, driven by new wealth and ever-growing automotive production is justifying more and more transportation infrastructure. No political party has the nerve to take tough decisions on transportation infrastructure, parking and pollution.

Once again, even if futile, we must dare to suggest some measures to reduce public misery, enormous recurring economic losses and the post-flood health issues faced by the poor and rich alike. All the while the encroachments on the riverbed, by both planned and unauthorised development, are growing unabated. Massive unauthorised housing encroachments the size of India’s small cities are growing taller and denser along the river edge. Tunnels and flyovers in low-lying areas are growing in number by the day, while a well-meaning master plan remains unnotified. Delhi is big, so are the Capital’s egos, development bravado and monumentality of its infrastructure misadventures.

Perhaps it is yet possible to improve the city if the authorities can take some hard-nosed decisions. Can we think of a comprehensive water management master plan? Such a plan could be through collaboration of the Disaster Management Authority, NCR Board, DDA, Delhi State Government and the Irrigation Department. The focus could be to revisit the master plan calculations for water demand and revisiting the GIS-based land analysis, hastening the Delhi government’s projects for redevelopment of lakes, revisiting waste water recycling to meet at least 50% of Delhi’s water needs and a blanket ban on development-based invasion of the Yamuna riverbed.

Forget, for once, about vehicular speed and focus on people and their walkability along with localised drainage plans. While technology has moved on, our planning has remained inert and conservative. The ownership of such a water-based master plan should be with the DDA (Delhi Development Authority) with whom the Delhi master plan is vested.

According to government claims, India is the fourth richest country in the world. We have money for big-sized dreams, road networks and for expensive hard sell on most projects. The private sector has never been a closer friend to public bodies. What we need are clarity of vision and gutsy decision makers at the city level, ready to call the shots even if they are uncomfortable.

Estimated losses from floods in city after city are incalculable. Official estimates never include the enormous social and health cost the people, particularly the poor, pay as their homes and livelihoods are simultaneously wiped away by floods. Can we afford to continue taking one step forward and two steps back every monsoon? Enough is enough. Now we need a national action strategy against floods. Every city/settlement has different forms of flood vulnerability. Can we do a statewise time-bound action plan starting with analysis of specificities in landform and hydrological dispositions? We don’t have a national urbanisation policy since 1988. Can we devise, on a firefighting basis, a national water management plan, decentralised and based on local realities (not on some mega projects like the river-linking idea). Needless to say, such a plan cannot address the disasters we see in the Himalayan region or the impending sea incursions in coastal areas. Those are bigger decisions by centralised bodies. One thing at a time, let’s fight urban and settlement flooding for now. This can become a big employment generator if we involve the local population in active planning and implementation. Let’s get real.

The writer is an urban designer and the former head of the department of urban design at School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi.