Rain brings Bengaluru fresh deluge of woes
Updated Apr 23, 2019, 3:25 am IST
Power cuts, fallen trees, damaged property and flooded roads - Bengaluru is tired of the same problems repeating themselves year after year, every time it rains. Storm water drains need to be desilted, before they flood roads. This is made worse by the fact that garbage is thrown into SWDs. Widespread encroachment of ecological zones and water bodies has drastically changed the landscape, as has the indiscriminate felling of trees. When will Bengaluru learn, asks Aknisree Karthik
Bengalureans consider themselves fortunate as no sooner does the summer get too hot to bear then the welcome April showers arrive nearly every year to make their lives easier. But when these showers begin to resemble the actual monsoon in their intensity the city is in for trouble as the last couple of days have demonstrated.
The roads begin to flood as storm water drains that are yet to be desilted, overflow and traffic begins to crawl, leading to chaos. People of Kadugodi, Old Madras Road, Raja Rajeshwari Nagar, Byppana halli and other areas bore the brunt of the deluge over the last few days as they became waterlogged, making it hard for drivers to negotiate the roads. “ We hear the same story every year. Whenever it rains heavily, our area gets flooded and the politicians and the BBMP officials arrive to inspect it and pose for photographs. But they disappear afterwards, only to return the next year, when the roads are once again flooded,” rued Ms Veena Kumari, a resident of Byappanahalli.
“What have they been doing all these years? If these officials cannot solve the problem, they should make way for those who can,” she demanded, echoing the sentiments of scores of Bengalurean, who are fed up with the way the city seems to buckle under every spell of heavy rain.
Pointing out that storm water drains are supposed to carry only rain water, Mr Subramani, a resident of Raja Rajeshwari nagar, laments that many people dump their garbage into them, choking them in the process. “With no one around to monitor the drains , they are filled with all kinds of rubbish, right from plastics to construction debris,” he noted with disgust.
Ask mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun about the poor state of affairs in the city, and she claims the BBMP is trying to handle the situation to the best of its ability. "During the tenures of mayors Padmavathi and Sampath Raj, the city received heavy rain and many people lost their lives. But since then the BBMP has taken several steps to improve the situation. We are working towards it. While I don't say we have done all we can, we are on the job and need to speed things up,” she said.
‘locals should be involved in planning infrastructure’
If the April showers have been heavy so far, what do the monsoons have in store for the city? Going by the weathermen of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), Bengaluru can look forward to a normal monsoon this year. While this may be comforting considering the city’s water requirements, a “normal” monsoon now also means uprooted trees, flooded roads and homes, and power cuts, raining misery on Bengalureans.
While the clogged storm water drains are part of the problem, the indiscriminate cutting of trees has also impacted the city’s weather, lament environmentalists. With the government intent on building more flyovers , both of the steel kind and otherwise, the city is only losing more of its tree cover and gaining little of it as the authorities don’t bother to relocate the trees or plant more elsewhere to make up for their loss.
Observed environmentalist, Askhay Heblikar sadly, “Government agencies only chop the trees for their various projects but hardly plant any to compensate, when 10 times the number of trees felled should be planted. The trees to be felled must be surveyed and only after expert opinion is received can the felling be allowed. Integrated ecological intervention and planning is the key to the future."
Mr Srinivas Alavalli, co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru believes the solution lies in giving people more say in the planning of their city. "Locals should be involved in planning their own infrastructure, whether it is for garbage, water, road or power,” he suggested, clearly hoping this will keep the authorities from ignoring ecological concerns when drawing up projects for the city.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/230419/rain-brings-bengaluru-fresh-deluge-of-woes.html
Updated Apr 23, 2019, 3:25 am IST
Power cuts, fallen trees, damaged property and flooded roads - Bengaluru is tired of the same problems repeating themselves year after year, every time it rains. Storm water drains need to be desilted, before they flood roads. This is made worse by the fact that garbage is thrown into SWDs. Widespread encroachment of ecological zones and water bodies has drastically changed the landscape, as has the indiscriminate felling of trees. When will Bengaluru learn, asks Aknisree Karthik
Bengalureans consider themselves fortunate as no sooner does the summer get too hot to bear then the welcome April showers arrive nearly every year to make their lives easier. But when these showers begin to resemble the actual monsoon in their intensity the city is in for trouble as the last couple of days have demonstrated.
The roads begin to flood as storm water drains that are yet to be desilted, overflow and traffic begins to crawl, leading to chaos. People of Kadugodi, Old Madras Road, Raja Rajeshwari Nagar, Byppana halli and other areas bore the brunt of the deluge over the last few days as they became waterlogged, making it hard for drivers to negotiate the roads. “ We hear the same story every year. Whenever it rains heavily, our area gets flooded and the politicians and the BBMP officials arrive to inspect it and pose for photographs. But they disappear afterwards, only to return the next year, when the roads are once again flooded,” rued Ms Veena Kumari, a resident of Byappanahalli.
“What have they been doing all these years? If these officials cannot solve the problem, they should make way for those who can,” she demanded, echoing the sentiments of scores of Bengalurean, who are fed up with the way the city seems to buckle under every spell of heavy rain.
Pointing out that storm water drains are supposed to carry only rain water, Mr Subramani, a resident of Raja Rajeshwari nagar, laments that many people dump their garbage into them, choking them in the process. “With no one around to monitor the drains , they are filled with all kinds of rubbish, right from plastics to construction debris,” he noted with disgust.
Ask mayor Gangambike Mallikarjun about the poor state of affairs in the city, and she claims the BBMP is trying to handle the situation to the best of its ability. "During the tenures of mayors Padmavathi and Sampath Raj, the city received heavy rain and many people lost their lives. But since then the BBMP has taken several steps to improve the situation. We are working towards it. While I don't say we have done all we can, we are on the job and need to speed things up,” she said.
‘locals should be involved in planning infrastructure’
If the April showers have been heavy so far, what do the monsoons have in store for the city? Going by the weathermen of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC), Bengaluru can look forward to a normal monsoon this year. While this may be comforting considering the city’s water requirements, a “normal” monsoon now also means uprooted trees, flooded roads and homes, and power cuts, raining misery on Bengalureans.
While the clogged storm water drains are part of the problem, the indiscriminate cutting of trees has also impacted the city’s weather, lament environmentalists. With the government intent on building more flyovers , both of the steel kind and otherwise, the city is only losing more of its tree cover and gaining little of it as the authorities don’t bother to relocate the trees or plant more elsewhere to make up for their loss.
Observed environmentalist, Askhay Heblikar sadly, “Government agencies only chop the trees for their various projects but hardly plant any to compensate, when 10 times the number of trees felled should be planted. The trees to be felled must be surveyed and only after expert opinion is received can the felling be allowed. Integrated ecological intervention and planning is the key to the future."
Mr Srinivas Alavalli, co-founder of Citizens for Bengaluru believes the solution lies in giving people more say in the planning of their city. "Locals should be involved in planning their own infrastructure, whether it is for garbage, water, road or power,” he suggested, clearly hoping this will keep the authorities from ignoring ecological concerns when drawing up projects for the city.
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/230419/rain-brings-bengaluru-fresh-deluge-of-woes.html
