Know why Bengaluru went six feet under during the weekend
Why did Bengaluru go six feet under during the weekend? Because city administrators sat on their hands all this while. Result: Over 100 trees fell, snapping power lines and plunging the city into darkness
Monday morning blues were excruciating for most Bengalureans when they saw gigantic trees reduced to puny stumps – Sunday night’s rains had wreaked havoc on Bengaluru.
Trees collapsing due to gale force winds and heavy rains is not a new phenomenon for Bengaluru; if you thought that this year it’s worse because rains have been lashing the city relentlessly, you are wrong. Between March
1 and May 27, Bengaluru received 166.5 mm cumulative rainfall. Last year, during the same period, it was over 250 mm. “This figure is calculated from the data available from about 1,000 Telemetric Rain Gauges installed
across the Bangalore Urban District,” said SN Gavaskar of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
“We have been warning the state government every day since the beginning of this year’s pre-monsoon season. Based on the warning they were supposed to take necessary action,” said Geeta Agnihotri, head of India
Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru.
Photos: Fallen trees, smashed cars -pre-monsoon showers in Bengaluru have caused massive devastation in the city
18
Silence after the storm Work in progress
Time to wake up!
Shades of grey
Always ready to help
An unfortunate tragedy
Cubbon Park devastation
Falling apart
So what happened?
In two words – rigor mortis. It has become a habit for the Mayor, Minister for Bengaluru Development and other officials to visit some rain-affected areas and pull up junior officials in front of the cameras. But to
Bengalureans, it’s as clear as Talakaveri water that these visits are just PR exercise.
On the ground, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) has taken few steps to protect the city, its citizens and its natural beauty. There are 21 teams of tree cutters with the BBMP forest department but they are
yet to get arrears worth crores of rupees for the last few years and are thus reluctant to take up fresh work.
BBMP Deputy Conservator of Forests MK Cholarajappa couldn’t be bothered more. He says his duty ends once he forwards the details of the arrears to higher authorities.
Indiscriminate trimming of branches, cutting of roots for infrastructure work and concretising footpaths around trees are some of the other ways in which the BBMP strikes the fatal blow.
“Many trees in the city that have no space around the stumps. Concretising pavements without leaving any space around the tree stumps for percolation of rain water will weaken the trees,” says Suresh Heblikar, an
environmentalist.
That’s not all. BBMP is not taking steps to ensure that the lost green cover is somehow replenished. “Not a single sapling was planted during last year. No BBMP authorities or elected representatives have bothered about
the need to plant more and more saplings,” says Vijay Nishanth, an urban conservationist and animal activist.
Heblikar says that the main reason trees fell in such large numbers is the lack of an expert committee for identification of old and decayed trees. “The BBMP had constituted an expert committee more than a decade ago
when MR Sreenivasa Murthy was BBMP Commissioner. Ironically, the expert team became defunct after two months. Till now, no effort has been made for constituting an expert committee,” he says.
“The concretisation of pavements and drains is the main reason for the trees becoming weak. The other reason is indiscriminate and unscientific trimming of tree branches by Bescom employees. Cutting of tree branches
causes fungus and termite infestations thus making trees weak,” says SG Neginhal, the man responsible for the hundreds of trees that line Bengaluru’s roads.
Chaos at KIA
Sunday’s heavy downpour inconvenienced fliers. For about half an hour, between 8.17 pm and 8.51 pm, no flights took off or landed due to inclement weather, leading to a cascading effect. At least 10 flights were diverted
to nearby airports as landing was not possible.
However, many passengers had a nightmarish experience as the roads leading to the airport were chock-a-block. A hoarding had collapsed near the Trumpet Intersection resulting in slow movement of traffic.
Passengers also faced difficulties due to the unavailability of cabs.
“Pathetic to see @BLRAirport disintegrated to its lowest level till date. 90 minutes waiting for taxi. Unscientific queue for taxi. Mosquito menace. People sleeping in airport premises with blankets & mosquito net. Overall 3rd
grade bus stand feeling,” @RameshBeeke said.
The dark ages
Bescom took a heavy beating on Sunday night -- not only did its transformers collapse and power lines snapped, it also faced the ire of Bengalureans who had a powerless night. In Singanayakanahalli and Rajanukunte
divisions, there was a power outage of over 20 hours. The E4 sub division which provides power to areas like Shanti Niketan and Bagmane Tech Park has been supplying power for only four four hours each day for the
past three days. Residents of Cooke Town and Malleswaram too faced the brunt of power outage as the area reeled under a power cut of over 15 hours. RT Nagar 1st Block area had to face a power outage of over 20
hours. — Bharat Hegde
RELATED NEW
Read more at:
https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/civic/know-why-bengaluru-went-six-feet-under-during-the-weekend/articleshow/69527808.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Why did Bengaluru go six feet under during the weekend? Because city administrators sat on their hands all this while. Result: Over 100 trees fell, snapping power lines and plunging the city into darkness
Monday morning blues were excruciating for most Bengalureans when they saw gigantic trees reduced to puny stumps – Sunday night’s rains had wreaked havoc on Bengaluru.
Trees collapsing due to gale force winds and heavy rains is not a new phenomenon for Bengaluru; if you thought that this year it’s worse because rains have been lashing the city relentlessly, you are wrong. Between March
1 and May 27, Bengaluru received 166.5 mm cumulative rainfall. Last year, during the same period, it was over 250 mm. “This figure is calculated from the data available from about 1,000 Telemetric Rain Gauges installed
across the Bangalore Urban District,” said SN Gavaskar of the Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC).
“We have been warning the state government every day since the beginning of this year’s pre-monsoon season. Based on the warning they were supposed to take necessary action,” said Geeta Agnihotri, head of India
Meteorological Department (IMD), Bengaluru.
Photos: Fallen trees, smashed cars -pre-monsoon showers in Bengaluru have caused massive devastation in the city
18
Silence after the storm Work in progress
Time to wake up!
Shades of grey
Always ready to help
An unfortunate tragedy
Cubbon Park devastation
Falling apart
So what happened?
In two words – rigor mortis. It has become a habit for the Mayor, Minister for Bengaluru Development and other officials to visit some rain-affected areas and pull up junior officials in front of the cameras. But to
Bengalureans, it’s as clear as Talakaveri water that these visits are just PR exercise.
On the ground, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahangara Palike (BBMP) has taken few steps to protect the city, its citizens and its natural beauty. There are 21 teams of tree cutters with the BBMP forest department but they are
yet to get arrears worth crores of rupees for the last few years and are thus reluctant to take up fresh work.
BBMP Deputy Conservator of Forests MK Cholarajappa couldn’t be bothered more. He says his duty ends once he forwards the details of the arrears to higher authorities.
Indiscriminate trimming of branches, cutting of roots for infrastructure work and concretising footpaths around trees are some of the other ways in which the BBMP strikes the fatal blow.
“Many trees in the city that have no space around the stumps. Concretising pavements without leaving any space around the tree stumps for percolation of rain water will weaken the trees,” says Suresh Heblikar, an
environmentalist.
That’s not all. BBMP is not taking steps to ensure that the lost green cover is somehow replenished. “Not a single sapling was planted during last year. No BBMP authorities or elected representatives have bothered about
the need to plant more and more saplings,” says Vijay Nishanth, an urban conservationist and animal activist.
Heblikar says that the main reason trees fell in such large numbers is the lack of an expert committee for identification of old and decayed trees. “The BBMP had constituted an expert committee more than a decade ago
when MR Sreenivasa Murthy was BBMP Commissioner. Ironically, the expert team became defunct after two months. Till now, no effort has been made for constituting an expert committee,” he says.
“The concretisation of pavements and drains is the main reason for the trees becoming weak. The other reason is indiscriminate and unscientific trimming of tree branches by Bescom employees. Cutting of tree branches
causes fungus and termite infestations thus making trees weak,” says SG Neginhal, the man responsible for the hundreds of trees that line Bengaluru’s roads.
Chaos at KIA
Sunday’s heavy downpour inconvenienced fliers. For about half an hour, between 8.17 pm and 8.51 pm, no flights took off or landed due to inclement weather, leading to a cascading effect. At least 10 flights were diverted
to nearby airports as landing was not possible.
However, many passengers had a nightmarish experience as the roads leading to the airport were chock-a-block. A hoarding had collapsed near the Trumpet Intersection resulting in slow movement of traffic.
Passengers also faced difficulties due to the unavailability of cabs.
“Pathetic to see @BLRAirport disintegrated to its lowest level till date. 90 minutes waiting for taxi. Unscientific queue for taxi. Mosquito menace. People sleeping in airport premises with blankets & mosquito net. Overall 3rd
grade bus stand feeling,” @RameshBeeke said.
The dark ages
Bescom took a heavy beating on Sunday night -- not only did its transformers collapse and power lines snapped, it also faced the ire of Bengalureans who had a powerless night. In Singanayakanahalli and Rajanukunte
divisions, there was a power outage of over 20 hours. The E4 sub division which provides power to areas like Shanti Niketan and Bagmane Tech Park has been supplying power for only four four hours each day for the
past three days. Residents of Cooke Town and Malleswaram too faced the brunt of power outage as the area reeled under a power cut of over 15 hours. RT Nagar 1st Block area had to face a power outage of over 20
hours. — Bharat Hegde
RELATED NEW
Read more at:
https://bangaloremirror.indiatimes.com/bangalore/civic/know-why-bengaluru-went-six-feet-under-during-the-weekend/articleshow/69527808.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
