The Kodichikkanhallis, that are waiting to happen!

The recent spell of rain that brought Bengaluru to its knees was not the first of its kind. Monsoon after monsoon, the same sorry story repeats, with only a varying degree and in different areas. The main culprit is encroachments on drains which cut down the space for rainwater to flow out and flood residential areas. Isn’t it time the administration woke up and cleared the drains, brought down the encroachments and found a permanent solution to the problem,  ask Chandrashekar G and Bellie Thomas.

Bengaluru’s troubles only seem to be growing. If its garbage problem and potholed roads are getting more unmanageable by the year, now the flooding it annually experiences in the monsoon seems to have escalated beyond measure as well, leaving it facing a Chennai- like scenario last week, when boats had to be called out to rescue marooned people and distribute food and water among them.

While everyone is aware that encroachments of storm water drains and lakes are to be largely blamed for the situation, the solution seems to be evading the  authorities despite the crores they claim to be spending on preventing the flooding in  rain.

It all boils down to the fact that the measures taken are more ad hoc and not designed for the long term, believe civic activists like Ms P. Mahalakshmi Parthasarathy, secretary of the Citizens Action Forum (CAF), who points out that builders and officials have been given a free hand to change the natural demography of  Bengaluru. which once had over 600 pristine lakes.

“It’s no wonder that the city is now paying the price,” she rues. “The lakes, which absorbed the excess rain water,  gradually disappeared and gave way to a concrete jungle as they were encroached upon indiscriminately by builders and others with no thought for the city’s  future. Not even once were the builders and officials held accountable for the encroachments of natural valleys. When drains are encroached on,  the water naturally takes its own course, leading to flooding,” the activist noted.

She has no doubt that the recent floods in Kodichikkanhalli, Madiwala, Bommanhalli and other areas were a man-made disaster and could have been averted with proper planning, and eviction of encroachers.

In her view, a cosmopolitan city like Bengaluru cannot  depend on one single individual or a minister to keep its wheels running smoothly. “It should have  an overseeing body that runs on auto pilot and is able to rise to the occasion when called for, especially when faced with disasters like flooding,” Ms Parthsarathy underlined, regretting that although the authorities often talked about encroachments, they had done very little to clear them.

“The city’s absolute lack of monsoon preparedness and its failure to identify the missing links in the drainage system led to the floods,” she declared, blaming it all on the absence of co-ordination among  different agencies like the forest and irrigation departments, the lake development authority and the BBMP.

“In Kodichikkanahalli, for instance, had the BBMP realised the lack of continuity in the storm water drain  network  and the corporator concerned had been more pro-active,  thousands of people would not have had to suffer,” she reasoned.

Govt should consult environmental scientists

While the government’s pet solution to most problems is to set up committees to examine them,  their  recommendations are rarely acted upon, note civic activists, who suggest that rather than forming such panels, the government's  focus should be on finding ways to safeguard the city’s water bodies and drain network with the help of environmental scientists and other experts.

Some feel the city is also suffering from a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth. “The way forward is to have a Central Water Authority (CWA) instead of  multiple agencies like the BBMP, minor irrigation department, BWSSB and the Lake Development Authority,  all pitching in for the same goal. If we had a central  authority with adequate powers to prevent encroachments, things would work much better,” argued Mr Vijayan Menon, a key petitioner before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the case of the Bellandur lake catchment area.

With a CWA in place, fixing responsibility for encroachments would become easier, he believes. “It would solve the problem and arrest flooding permanently,”  he contended.

Also, blaming the BWSSB for poor maintenance of the city's sewerage and drainage network,   he asks what stops the  authorities from redesigning the drains scientifically to make sure no rain water collects on the roads for want of a free vent. “And when  the BBMP has  identified certain vulnerable points of flooding, what stops it from strengthening them?” he demanded pertinently.

Accusing politicians of shielding encroachers and preventing their eviction, he says its time they took a hard look at their priorities in the interests of the people. “It’s encroachers versus the ordinary people of Bengaluru,  who always bear the brunt of such natural disasters,” Mr Menon noted with regret.

The BBMP workers have been working round the clock to clear the block, but have not succeeded even after three days.

Jaraganahalli residents suffer same fate
The condition of Jaraganahalli residents, living next to the Sarakki Lake, was no different from those staying at Kodichikkanahalli as water entered their homes and flooded the roads over the last three days.

Though water level has receded on roads and in drains, residents are left with no water to drink as water in their sumps has been contaminated. Indiscriminate encroachment of the lake led to the flooding, the residents complained.

The lake, which is spread across 84 acres, has two waste-weirs. One has been closed, while the other one has been turned into a drain, which is completely choked with waste.

Mr Mallesh K., a resident, who was busy scooping out water with a bucket from his house, said his family would have to vacate the house if it rained for two or three days more.

The BBMP workers have been working round the clock to clear the block, but have not succeeded even after three days.

Proposal to concretise entire length of SWD a foolish step: Dr. T.V. Ramachandra, Professor, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc
It’s not just one builder encroaching on a primary storm water drain(SWD) in the city, but the same story everywhere. Of the 846 km long storm water drain network, around 380 kms are encroached upon,  according to the civic authorities themselves.

We've now heard there is a proposals to concretise the entire length of the SWD network in the city. Whoever has proposed this has only one aim in mind: to make money. The BBMP wants to spend Rs 5,200 crore on this project saying it will cost Rs 8 crore a kilometer to execute.  Strangely it claims it will concretise the full length of the  storm water drain even while admitting that nearly half of it (380 km), has been encroached upon. Even this figure doesn’t ring true as the encroached length should actually be more.

If it goes ahead with this plan, it will only choke and narrow down the existing storm water drains. Providing them with concrete beds  will only increase the velocity of water  and lead to more intense flooding.  In natural drains, the soil traps the water and the vegetation around not only checks its velocity, but also recharges the ground water. All in all, this is a foolish proposal only aimed at making money, and encouraging encroachments.

On hearing about it we  requested the BBMP commissioner to provide us the Detailed Project Report (DPR)  and he has promised to post  it on the Net.