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Flooding in Bengaluru part of man-made problem: Experts
MN Srihari, a retired civil servant, expert on urban infrastructure and policy, on Thursday said that rains have been an integral part of the city but the bigger question is why flooding is happening only in recent years
Bengaluru: The recent flooding in Bengaluru, experts said, is part of human-made problem as rains have been a constant feature in the city’s history, raising questions if the civic bodies have got their act together while approving major infrastructure projects.
MN Srihari, a retired civil servant, expert on urban infrastructure and policy, on Thursday said that rains have been an integral part of the city but the bigger question is why flooding is happening only in recent years.
“A lot of projects and houses have been built above the lakes. Dried rains do not have rain in summer but attract rains during monsoons,” he said, adding that the water has nowhere to flow.
He added that cutting trees which traps a significant amount of water; and concretisation has exacerbated the challenges not only in Bengaluru but other parts of the world as well.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has denied that there has been any flooding in the city and heavy rains sometimes tends to leave water in one place for sometime before it naturally drains out.
Gaurav Gupta, BBMP chief commissioner said that heavy rains tend to loosen soil and cause structural damage.
Srihari said that when rain water accumulates in the soil which were earlier lake beds, the soil tends to be affected, causing structural damages and adds to the possibility of them collapsing.
Not monitoring engineering process, structural integrity and giving approvals to buildings on any piece of land, Srihari said, was adding to the risk in a city that has grown rapidly and in an unplanned manner, encroaching everything in its path to accommodate the needs of the increasing population.
V Ravichandar, an urban infrastructure expert, said that several of these buildings have many violations which is against the building plan approval.
From around 1.2 million population in 1960, Bengaluru is now home to over 12 million people with most of the spike being seen since 2006.
Bengaluru has seen at least six buildings collapse since the last week of September with at least 400 more that need to be brought down at the earliest.
Gupta said that apart from the 185 dilapidated buildings identified in its survey in 2019, only 10 have been demolished so far. On Thursday he said that there are at least 300 more such buildings identified in the rapid survey carried out this month.
