Bengalureans

Bengaluru

storm water drains

BBMP

These two traffic policemen had to get their hands dirty when choked drains clogged the main thoroughfare in KR Puram on Thursday

By Y Maheswara ReddyPlastic, thermocol and waste dumped in drains turned Thursday’s showers into a nightmare for commuters. Imagine the situation when the rains arrive next monthBe careful what you wish for, because you just might get it all. From the lips of a few lakhto God’s ears, their requests for respite from this prevailing un-Bengalurean weather were finally heard. But the joy at the sight of dark clouds, heavy with the promise of rain turned quickly into dismay as rain fell and quickly turned the city’s roads into dark, grey rivers. Streams of rainwater slowed down vehicles, causing traffic jams. Trees came uprooted and crashed down, killing one person. Transformers burst and several parts of the city reported power outages for nearly six to eight hours. Commuters were taken by surprise and stranded on their way home and’s already-under-pressure infrastructure caved in.The dry spell for a few months had made us forget the havoc rains had caused last year, as(SWDs) overflowed, flooding low-lying areas of the city causing large-scale destruction in their wake.For a city that’s not at sea-level, Bengaluru has always suffered from flooding during the rains. The State has allocated Rs 42 cr for desilting 842 kms of SWDs, of which 440 km of desilting has been completed, says Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad. And yet, the unexpected rains caught everyone, including the, offguard.When heavy rains lashed Bengaluru on Wednesday and Thursday evening, many parts of the city got flooded. One of them, a stretch on Old Madras Road near Benniganahalli, was particularly bad. Vehicular movement on the stretch came to a standstill. Traffic police struggled to restore the flow of vehicular traffic which had been thrown awry due to the rains and flooding. A few traffic police constables were seen using lathis to clear the silt that blocked grates over roadside drains.Parts of Airport Road and Outer Ring Road were also flooded, affecting traffic. Though the onset of the monsoon is more than a month away, it seems the BBMP authorities are yet to achieve any degree of monsoon preparedness.The sorry state of the city crumbling under the weight of two summer showers invited sharp criticism from citizens and civic activists.“I am not happy with the road infrastructure in the city. The road design is not right. The BBMP authorities indulge in piecemeal dredging whenever the roads are flooded with rainwater. They do it without removing the silt in the culverts. There is no preparation to avoid flooding in monsoon,” says Kathyayini Chamaraj, Executive Trustee, CIVIC.The other reason for flooding is choking of roadside drains with debris and silt. The BBMP spends crores of rupees to remove silt from roadside drains but the silt remains and as usual flooding of roads takes place during the monsoon season.According to V Ravichandar, a civic expert, the big crisis to hit Bengaluru is urban flooding. The reasons for this are many - poor lake holding capacity, unstilted drains, construction in low-lying areas, encroachments over storm water drains, break in inter-linked lakes that existed earlier, etc. “The low-lying areas of South and East Bengaluru are at a greater risk during heavy rains and cloud bursts due to the ridge-like nature of Bengaluru. The downstream lakes are mainly in the south/southeast areas. Further, with concrete drain lining and lakes being bypassed through drains, water tends to rush to the lower areas much faster than it should, leading to flooding,’’ explains Ravichandar.BBMP Joint Commissioner (Mahadevapura Zone) Jagadeesh N S said that he had already instructed the chief engineer to look into the matter. “I have been transferred to another zone. A new Joint Commissioner will assume office soon,’’ said Jagadeesh. Meanwhile, BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said that the BBMP has taken up desilting of storm water drains to avoid inundation of low-lying areas in the city during monsoon.“We have completed desilting of 440 kms of storm water drains out of 840 kms, much before the onset of the monsoon. We will complete the pending work soon,’’ says Manjunatha Prasad.The BBMP Commissioner has said that BBMP engineers have identified the areas that are vulnerable to flooding during monsoon. “For the first time in the history of BBMP, measures have been taken to maintain storm water drains throughout the year,’’ the Commissioner said.According to the BBMP Commissioner, one reason for the flooding on Old Madras Road which led to traffic snarls, was because the drains have a certain capacity to carry rainwater to the nearest lake and “whenever the city receives a sudden downpour, it will take some time for the rainwater to drain out from the roads.’’Patience, is what the BBMP commissioner asks of the Bengalurean, but that’s wearing thin after memories of last year’s rain havoc.