As city floods, BBMP found wanting again

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) as usual, was in deep slumber when the city went through drought-like situation for nearly five months, but when it started raining early this month, the civic body was far from ready to handle the downpour. In fact, in the last one decade or so, it is the same old story of the flooding of roads, drainages, stormwater drains (SWDs) and low-lying areas, bringing misery to thousands of people. The minister concerned, mayor and senior BBMP officials – who themselves live in posh localities that never get flooded – follow the theatrics of visiting ‘worst-hit’ areas, pose to the media, and make suitable noises about handling the situation on a ‘war-footing.’ It is a week now since Shantha Kumar (30), the excavator operator, who was working near Kurubarahallli bridge, was washed away, but despite hundreds of personnel from the National Disaster Response Force being pressed into service, he has not been found alive or dead. The authorities have almost given up hope. It is the fourth such incident since the tragic drowning and disappearance of six-year-old Abhishek in 2009 in Lingarajapuram, but the callous attitude of the BBMP towards taking immediate remedial measures continues, leading to more tragedies and perennial hardships to the residents. Like year after year and despite lessons to be learnt, the BBMP, unsurprisingly, was found wanting this year too.

The remodelling and fencing of the city’s 633 SWDs measuring 856 km, was planned in 2004, but it is a damning indictment of the ways of functioning of the BBMP and all the political parties that have ruled the state since then, that not even 20% of the work has been completed. After being in power for four years, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently performed ‘ground-breaking ceremony’ to take up remodelling of 192 km of SWD at a cost of Rs 700 crore. That leaves 522 km of SWD yet to be fenced. The Siddaramaiah government took up clearing the encroachment of rajakaluves in a big way last year, but the operation came to an abrupt halt when the properties of former minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa and actor Darshan were discovered to be sitting right on rajakaluve and they were conveniently spared of the demolition.

There cannot be different set of rules for the rich and the poor. The government should show sufficient political will to complete the task of clearing the rajakaluves of all illegal structures and remove the imp­ediments for the smooth flow of water. It should take the help of scientists who have done pioneering work in rainwater harvesting, so that Bengaluru’s wonderful rains will be seen as a saviour rather than a killer.