Concerns

Alarming growth

Disappearing lakes

Garbage crisis

Prone to floods

BENGALURU: The city has put up a poor show in ‘Benchmarking Bangalore City for Sustainability,’ a study which looked at how sustainable a rapidly-growing city like it is, and is ranked fourth among five cities. The analysis by the Indian Institute of Science ( IISc ), Bengaluru, shows that in the urban sustainability index, where five cities were compared, Bengaluru (0.658) and Mumbai (0.590) have the least sustainable urban system. Singapore (0.773) emerged as the most sustainable urban system, followed by London (0.771) and Shanghai (0.669).“The expansion of a city devours acres of land and materials for infrastructure like highways, water supply and power. It intensifies traffic problems on commuting roads from a city’s central location to suburban areas. So, it’s important to study the rapid urban change that is likely to take place in developing countries that are least equipped with the means to invest in basic urban infrastructure, and are unable to provide vital economic opportunities for urban residents,” one of the principle researchers of the study, Balachandra Patil from the department of management studies & centre for sustainable technologies at IISc, said.He further said, “The low score for urban green spaces is one of the contributors for lowering the environmental sustainability index value. Bengaluru has low sustainability scores for water pollution. It has obtained the last position for water pollution. It needs to make targeted interventions with respect to indicator categories where they have got low normalised scores.”* Bengaluru has witnessed an alarming growth of built–up area in the last 40 years. The growth has been a phenomenal 525%. The vegetation of the once Green City has seen a decline of 78%.* The city has lost 79% of its water bodies during the same period because of the urban sprawl.* 54% of lakes are encroached by illegal buildings. Nearly 66% of lakes are sewage fed, 14% surrounded by slums and 72% showed loss of catchment area.* There is no proper policy on land use and water. Land is being exploited on the whims and fancies of politicians.* Dumping of construction debris and sewage, and pollution from vehicular emissions remain the biggest concerns.* BBMP spends huge amounts on solid waste management; `415 crore was reportedly allocated in the budget for 2015-16 but Bengaluru continues to face a garbage crisis.* Depleting drainage network is only adding to the problem, making Bangalore more unlivable and prone to floods