B’luru’s Flood Prevention Plan Is a Bandage on a Recurring Wound

The plan submitted by the BBMP is more about how to clear the flooded roads than how to prevent flooding.

The Southwest monsoon rains lashed Bengaluru on Tuesday, 5 June, turning roads into mini rivers, as usual. Spells of heavy rains are expected in the city over the next few months.

Last year, normal life was thrown out of gear with heavy rains damaging property. That led to a plan being set in motion to revive the city’s storm water drain (SWD) system to ensure the flooding is contained.

However, on Monday, when Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy called for a flood preparedness review meeting, the plan submitted by the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) was more about how to clear the flooded roads than how to prevent flooding.

The BBMP’s flood prevention plan consists of setting 72 temporary control rooms to receive complaints, deploying 21 teams tasked with removing uprooted trees, pumping out water from the roads, clearing the SWDs, and refilling potholes ahead of the monsoon.

366 Vulnerable Flood Points in City

In their plan, the BBMP has identified 366 flooding points in low laying areas. BBMP officials told The Quint that temporary anti-flooding measures have been put in place in these areas. As of last week, work in 340 has been attended to.

“The measures include strengthening walls of SWDs using concrete or sand bags to avoid flooding. The exits points of the drains have been cleared to ensure there is no clogging. Our teams will check these points constantly so water flows without any blockage,” said a senior BBMP official.

However, the officials agree that the temporary measures might not be enough to contain flooding, especially in areas like ST Bed, Koramangala, KR Puram, HSR Layout, Double Road, and Dollars Colony.

Delayed Desilting of Drains

One of the reasons why the BBMP can’t assure the citizens a permanent solution for the flooding is because of the delay in the construction and maintenance of the SWDs.

The natural process is to allow water to enter earth, but we have created a concrete maze to channel this water. Instead, soaking pits should be installed along the drains, which allow the earth to absorb water. But, by having a concrete network, we are manufacturing a flood. 

Ashwin Mahesh, urban expert       

The remodelling, repairing and desilting of the SWDs in Bengaluru began as early as 2006. And though work of 842 kilometres of the drain should have been completed so far, only 307 km of drains are ready till date.

In February this year, while seeking a report on remodelling, reconstruction, maintenance and desilting of the proposed 842 km-long SWDs, the Karnataka High Court rapped the BBMP for their slow pace of work.

In a status report submitted to the High Court, the BBMP had claimed that work of only 177 km of SWDs had been completed thus far, and the next phase of work of repairing 192 km drains is in its final stages. Following this report, the High Court had said that pace of the work didn’t indicate “substantial progress” as the work had begun in 2006.

But the BBMP claims the lack of funds and encroachments over SWDs have delayed progress.

Bengaluru has rampant, unplanned growth, disrespecting nature. We have occupied the low-lying areas of the city. For these occupied areas, there was no mechanism for storm water dispersal. On top of this, we have storm water drains which are encroached by illegal buildings and citizens dumping garbage, disrupting the flow of water.

Ravichandar V, urban expert

With Flooding Unchecked, Potholes Become Deathtraps

With an incomplete SWD system to check flooding, potholes on roads pose a serious threat to commuters. Potholes have reappeared on roads which were repaired in a hurry during the election season.

According to the BBMP, the number of potholes that need repair is over 5,000.

Though the BBMP has assured that potholes would be filled on a war footing, Bengaluru traffic police are not convinced. A senior traffic police officer told The Quint that the department had communicated to the BBMP several times to fix the potholes.

“This work should have been done during the summer. With pre-monsoon showers and the monsoon setting in, any work done now will not be effective,” he said.

The officer also added that the half-completed white topping (concreting the roads) has become a problem as well. “Whenever white-topping is put, the height of the road increases. In several areas, the height has been raised on one side resulting in waterlogging,” the officer said.

The BBMP, however, rebutted the allegations, claiming several repair works were stalled because of the moral code of conduct.

The grand plan of the BBMP to fight the monsoon is more of a bandage over a recurring wound, rather than a permanent solution. As the BBMP failed to complete the work of repairing the SWDs once again, authorities, despite the plan presented to the newly-elected chief minister, will face a challenging time during the monsoon.