Summer rain: BBMP goes belly up

A single spell of rain is enough to bring Bengaluru's civic woes into sharp focus. Stormwater drains are clogged with silt and garbage, leading to floods and waterlogging across the city. The monsoon is only three months away and the BBMP's sole response to the situation is to blame the condition of SWDs on the citizens themselves, reports Aknisree Karthik.

I proud of their “airconditioned city,” Bengalureans have long boasted of their summer showers, which arrive to  cool it when the sun gets a little too hot for comfort . But on Tuesday, more were complaining than enjoying the cooler weather as the rains once again exposed the BBMP's inability to keep the city moving when the skies open up. As always there was waterlogging on roads and in low lying areas, leaving many houses flooded and their occupants frustrated. It was a sad warning of things to come as the monsoon is just three months away.

While the BBMP could take shelter under the fact that the city recorded 38 mm of rain on Tuesday, surpassing its monthly average of 18.5 mm for March , the fact remains that the so-called desilting it carries out annually at huge cost, does not seem to make any difference to Bengaluru's rain  travails.

Ask urban experts for their take on what can save Bengaluru from drowning in rain and they have many solutions to give. Civic evangelist, V Ravichandar points out that a sudden downpour accompanied by a thunderstorm is a challenge for any city. “It will test  and create a problem for even a well planned city. But in a city like Bengaluru ,which is less prepared, sudden rain and thunderstorm are a prescription for trouble," he warns, adding that the obvious solution is to keep  its storm water drain (SWD) network extremely clear. “It should be free of all silt and garbage to allow free flow of water. It is imperative that the cleaning work is taken up soon," he stresses.  While road geometry plays a huge role in guiding rain water to the drain network, he believes recharge pits should also be dug at intervals of every 30 meters to let the rain water  percolate into the ground as this could also help prevent the flooding.

Urban expert, R.K. Misra ruefully points out that although the Outer Ring Road near Doddanekundi  was flooded in Tuesday’s rain,  the civic body did not have mobile pumps to suck out the water. “We had to wait till Wednesday morning for the roads to be cleared," he adds in disgust.

Noting that everything, from garbage to construction waste and silt blocks the drains in the city, Mr Mishra is hardly surprised at Tuesday's flooding.

As for architect and member of Citizens for Bengaluru, Naresh Narasimhan, he suggests that both the BBMP and BWSSB should work together to keep the SWD network clear of garbage and silt.

Ask BBMP Commissioner , Manjunath Prasad about Tuesday’s dismal scene in the city and he claims desilting of drains is underway at a cost of Rs 140 crore. Pointing out that only 142 kms of the 842 km long SWD is fenced, he says  fencing of another 115 kms will be completed soon. The commissioner, who visited D J Halli ward and inspected the SWD in the area on Tuesday, also blames the people for the poor condition of drains in the city.

"During my inspection I found that  people were dumping garbage into the SWD and blocking its smooth flow. They need to be disciplined too,” he says. As for the KSRTC bus being stuck under the Kino theatre railway bridge, Mr  Prasad reveals that two motor pumps were at the site to drain out the water from under it.  “The work is still going on at the site  to drain all the water via gravity. We hope to complete in two months,” he assures.

Rain worsens froth on Bellandur lake
Besides traffic jams and waterlogging, Tuesday’s rain caused a frothing Bellandur lake to overflow onto the road nearby and  the Swagger road  running adjacent to it, giving commuters and locals a hard time.Says Mr Mithun, who works in a grocery store near the lake,  “When it rains  the frothing and smelly water from the lake often flows on to the road , making it extremely dangerous for motorists to use it. On Tuesday we had to put up with an unbearable stench as the water once again overflowed. We could smell it in the shop I work in.”Mr Paritosh Mitra, a techie working with an MNC in Whitefield and a resident of Bellandur says it was an experience navigating the road near the lake Wednesday morning. “ Due to the rain the previous night the lake was frothing more than usual and the overflowing water was slowing down traffic. It took some time for the water to drain off,” he recounts.

No more rainfall: IMD
After two days of heavy rains, the city is likely to witness sunny weather starting from Thursday. On Tuesday night the city had recorded 36. 8 mm rainfall, nearly two times the March average of 18.5 mm. According to the IMD-Bengaluru officials the sky will remain overcast, but there will be only isolated showers in parts of the city.

Sundar M. Metri, Director in-Charge, IMD-Bengaluru, said the city may not witness rainfall in coming days. "This rain is due to upper air cyclonic circulation. But there is no possibility of more rainfall," he said. He also said that this rain may not be beneficial to farmers as generally not much agricultural activities are carried out in March. "But this rainfall is expected to ease the drought like condition and drinking water woes,” he said.

Woman forced to abandon bike on waterlogged road in Cantonment
Twenty-three-year old Hema Ranganathan, who works for a public relations firm on Queen's Road, was readying to leave her office on her two- wheeler at around 8 pm Tuesday evening when it began to rain. After a wait of about two hours, she finally started for her home in R T Nagar, braving the drizzle. But at the Cantonment railway underbridge, she came to an abrupt halt as there was an almost mini pond under it. Deciding to wade through the water, she carried on only to find it entering her bike’s silencer. Left with no choice, she parked the vehicle at the side of the road and headed home in an autorickshaw, paying double the usual fare.

An expectedly frustrated Hema demands,  "What kind of city are we living in ? What are the civic body and planners for if they cannot make proper arrangements to drain off the rain water ?"  Her frustration is echoed by many, who have been similarly stranded at one time or another on the city’s roads on account of the rain and the flooding that almost inevitably follows.   The traffic jams, the deadly camouflaged potholes and the hours of wait to let the water recede before attempting a ride home in the rain are all too familiar to most Bengalureans, who have had to put up with these inconveniences for  years despite the authorities claims of doing their best to avoid them.   

Unfortunately, it is not only the roads that are flooded , but also many low-lying areas, where water enters homes and destroys furniture while  people clamber to a higher ground. It was no different on Tuesday as houses on R K Street behind Nataraj Theatre in Seshadripuram, and near the Venugopalaswamy Temple, close to West Park Road in Malleswaram were flooded , leaving their occupants harassed and  pointing accusing fingers at the BBMP for their troubles.  In other parts of the city four fully grown trees and branches of 15 others came down in the wind and rain, obstructing traffic and leaving many a commuter harassed.

Guest column: Solutions known, resources available, but nothing is done, says Ashwin Mahesh, Urban expert
The skies opened up this week over many neighbourhoods in the city and with this came the usual problems : flooded roads and overflowing drains. Haven't we been down this road before? Of course we have. But there is also another road  we have been down before : the vast highway of indifference shown by the authorities to these problems.

The solutions are well known. We need to stop transporting so much water to low-lying areas through the minor and major drains of the city, and let more of it percolate into the soil when it rains. A simple soak-pit dug every 100 meters along the drain network will solve half the problem. Similarly, we must introduce a system of filling potholes as and when they form, and not wait for thousands to form before awarding contracts to fix them.

We  have the resources to implement this. In fact, the money needed for pothole-filling and creating soak pits  is less than the funds required to endlessly re-lay roads, and definitely less than the economic cost of repeated flooding.

Why then is this not being done? There is only one answer. These steps will be taken only when we elect governments that want to take them. When the leadership of the city is committed to thwarting the avoidable suffering of the people, we will have the city we want. But we have  clearly not arrived at that point yet.