Decoding drain clearance drive

Tragedy of the commons

Paddy fields thrived in Chinnappanahalli village once upon a time. The lake nearby irrigated the crops through many nalas, which were recorded in the village maps prepared by the British in the 1900s. These one-metre-wide nalas were called ‘chirukaluvas’ locally, their purpose mainly being irrigation.

In the 2000s, as Bengaluru developed following the information technology boom, the area’s proximity to Whitefield changed the story. Nallurahalli Panchayat under which the area fell approved residential layouts there. However, not enough thought went into planning, which resulted in the negligence of the valley, nalas and two lakes.

An official from Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the city’s planning body, explains the general trend back then: “When more people needed homes and spaces to live, the city got developed. But nobody foresaw the current magnitude and population at that time.” As a result, officials relaxed some norms while approving layouts and sanctioning the plans.

The land use changed from agriculture to residential in many parcels of the land, and many layouts including Maruthi Layout and AECS layout came up in the area. Plans were approved, and buildings were constructed.

In 2009, the area got merged with the Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BMP) technically, making it ‘Bruhat’ — bigger. With time, many properties also got A khata — one of the documents from BBMP that says the property is ‘legal’.

Meanwhile, some buildings were constructed with no land conversions at all. Low-lying parts of the layouts kept flooding with every big rain, ringing alarm bells. All the while, the BBMP closed its eyes and collected taxes, keeping the sword of illegality dangling on the properties.

Chinnappanahalli’s story could be the story in any city. However, the recent record rains changed the story in Bengaluru. Some houses are facing the threat of demolition, while the BBMP has already razed some.

Navigating the maze of maps

“The officials were not serious about checking revenue maps until 2016 when the court took the BBMP to task. The officials realised the importance of it only after the fake A khata scam was discovered and 10 officials were suspended,” says a BBMP official.

Revenue maps were done by the state government’s Revenue Department, using the survey that was completed in 1965 — which was based on the British era maps. Before the city’s various maps were digitised, finding and decoding all the maps and survey sketches was a process mired in opaqueness. Individuals depended on brokers and builders for this. Corruption and political influence played major roles in the opaqueness and illegalities, as many citizens and officials point out.

An official from BBMP’s Town Planning Department told DH that today, they look at BDA’s RMP 2015 for zonal regulations and BBMP’s own building bylaws while sanctioning plans and khatas along with village maps, revenue maps and survey sketches.

However, the illegalities that occurred before 2016 knowingly and unknowingly have stayed. An official associated with encroachment clearance told DH that there is no relationship between BDA’s RMP 2015 and BBMP’s clearance drive, as it has many details missing from it and involves only the development plan. While clearing encroachments, the BBMP looks at the British-era village maps, revenue maps and encroachment identification surveys done at various points in time.

‘Government can do anything’

If going by the British era map were the only criteria, half of Bengaluru could be demolished. Take for example the Dharmambudhi lake and Sampangi Rama Nagar Lake that made way for Kempegowda bus station and Kanteerava stadium. Will these also be cleared?

Of course not. Because, as the BBMP official says, “The government has the powers to do anything. We can’t question it. Land use can be changed via government orders. Only when they are done without permission do we need to act and clear it all”.

This also means that nothing can be done if the government violates its own law. A four-floor building measuring 30X90 ft belonging to BBMP right on the stormwater drain adjacent to Lalbagh Main Road stands as a testimony to what the government can do. A closer look at satellite maps reveals many businesses and religious structures built on drains everywhere.

In many areas, stormwater drains have been diverted. A Revenue Department official explained the process of legalising diverted stormwater drains. “Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner must be approached with a request for ‘change of path’ and get it approved, after which it will reflect in the Revenue records. If this process isn’t followed, the diversion will have no legal sanctity.”

This was a move suggested by the Koliwada Committee. The officials DH spoke to said that until 2016, this process was not being followed.

‘All are crooked’

“All are crooked. Citizens are greedy, and the BBMP is corrupt. The BDA is the bigger culprit because whatever happened before 2008 was under their watch,” says another official from the state’s Revenue Department.

He says that the K B Koliwada Committee’s list of stormwater drain encroachments across the city is based on Revenue maps, and the department included it in its database. This is guiding the demolition drive today, he adds.

However, citizens beg to differ. They say that while many properties were issued notices based on the Koliwada Committee report, as the governments changed, the nala’s position kept shifting with every survey conducted by the BBMP. The exact location and measurements of the drains are mentioned in 2013 survey documents, but in some cases, demolitions did not follow this.

“It’s all corruption, settling the political score and diverting people from real issues,” said an aggrieved citizen. He and a few others had plan sanctions and A khatas from BBMP for their properties, and the 2013 stormwater drain survey did not include their properties. They have moved court questioning the demolition drive.

How to fix the mess?

Are the 100-year-old village maps still important in today’s urban context? “The answer is yes and no. There is merit in the past; the past should definitely inform the future. Urbanisation was not so rapid; there was time to respond to it thoughtfully. There existed a certain thought process that went into what should come where,” says Anjali Karol Mohan, a city-based urban planning expert. She adds that the respect for topography and ecology of the terrains that existed is lost now.

“In fact, globally cities are undoing the largely built form in an effort to bring nature back. This is much needed in the context of climate change. Of course, some changes are irreversible and there is no clean slate to redraw the map today. Yet, what can possibly be undone with the least harm to the current ecosystem must be done,” she adds.

Why do the governments act slow in fixing the mess? Sudhira H S, the founder of Gubbi Labs who has been working on urban issues for the last decade, says: “Politicians lack incentives to look beyond a five-year timeframe, as they are fixated on showing tangible results. Better planning and fixing of issues has a long-term intangible benefit, but they don’t see it and opt for short-term measures.”

State Revenue Department officials say that the city will get a fresh revenue survey map that marks the existing land use, diverted nalas and nalas as per the village maps, with the completion of its much-anticipated Urban Property Ownership Record (UPOR) project, which assures legal rights of the properties to the owners. Whether this will put an end to the mess remains to be seen.

While many officials and citizens preferred anonymity, the BBMP commissioner could not be reached for a reaction.