Bengaluru floods: All eyes on new State government and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah

The flooding claimed the life of Bhanurekha, a techie employed by Infosys, who was in a cab that was stuck in a flooded underpass at KR Circle. That underpass was inundated as drains overflowed and a huge body of water gushed into it.

Into each life some rain must fall,

But too much is falling in mine.

So go the words of a song from the 1940s by The Ink Spots, perhaps inspired by HW Longfellow’s poem, The Rainy Day, written a 100 years earlier. Nobody in India would identify with those words more than the people of Bengaluru. For in this city, when it rains, it pours.

"Civic apathy" was among the trending topics on social media at the beginning of the week as Bengaluru's stormwater drains, which can supposedly handle about 50 mm of rainfall, overflowed after a downpour of about 16 mm on Sunday. That overflow ended in a tragedy, one that could easily have been avoided.

The flooding claimed the life of Bhanurekha, a techie employed by Infosys, who was in a cab that was stuck in a flooded underpass at KR Circle. That underpass was inundated as drains overflowed and a huge body of water gushed into it.

Related stories

Souptik Datta

Sub Editor|Moneycontrol

• 
  If illegal floors can't be razed, demolish the building, says Karnataka High Court
• 
  Karnataka RERA asks Ozone Group to repay homebuyer's home loan, clears all liabilities on buyer
• 
  India turns 2nd fastest-growing data center market in Asia-Pacific with 28% growth in capacity

Bhanurekha was just 22. Her life would not have been lost if the administration had implemented the many proposals floating around to improve the city’s infrastructure, say the experts.

The rains continued on Monday as well, bringing the city to a standstill. Once again homes, apartment buildings and commercial complexes in many low-lying areas had to bear the brunt of nature’s fury.

Close to six months after the infamous Bengaluru flood that waterlogged more than 100-150 houses, including luxury condos, it is clear that little has changed for citizens.

To be sure, there are some silver linings. For instance, in Cooke Town, an upscale residential area, the basement of Farah Merchant’s building was flooded in the rains last September, damaging several vehicles. “The apartment association repaired the building's drainage after that incident, and this time, the water did not gush in,” said Merchant.

However, despite the local body carrying out repairs on the drains in the locality, the waterlogging situation has not improved much, she laments.

While it would not be fair to fault the new state government, which has just taken over the reins, it is clear that chief minister Siddaramaiah’s administration will have its job cut out to fix Bengaluru’s problems.

Reports gathering dust

Since the flood last September, it has become clear that the root cause of Bengaluru's flooding is rapid urbanisation, both planned and unplanned, in the city and its surrounding areas.

Indeed, said BV Anand, a former member of the Karnataka state policy and planning commission, 111 urban villages around Bengaluru have now turned into high-density settlements because of this unchecked development, straining existing infrastructure.

Anand said that during his tenure, several solutions had been proposed in the Karnataka Economic Survey 2022 for sustainable urbanisation in the state, especially in Bengaluru. These reports, however, have mostly been gathering dust, he said, with only some proposals being implemented.

Little things like cleaning and maintenance of shoulder drains alongside the road, especially during the pre-monsoon season, can go a long way to helping the city cope with heavy rainfall, Anand explained.

On a positive note, senior officials of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) told Moneycontrol that the corporation plans to desilt all stormwater drains and clear the drainage in northern Bengaluru this month. It remains to be seen how effective this exercise will prove.

Ward-level planning required

Out of about 190 towns in Karnataka, master plans have been prepared for less than 120. And Bengaluru's population has been growing 3-4 percent every year since 2011, data show.

The Bengaluru Development Authority has withdrawn the city’s 2031 Revised Master Plan (RMP), which was mired in controversy. A new RMP is being drafted with a 60 percent cost escalation.

Srinivasa Reddy, former director of the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority, told Moneycontrol that any master plan or city map needs to have a disaster management plan integrated within, but this never happens.

Bengaluru's area has grown 121 times since 1947, pushing the outskirts further each year. However, the master plan stops at the district level. “A comprehensive ward-level plan is the need of the hour,” said Reddy.

Better budgeting for the problems at hand

The 15th Finance Commission had recommended that the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) be increased to Rs 1,054 crore in 2020. However, due to the immense challenges posed by the Covid crisis, Karnataka had to spend two-thirds of the funding on COVID-19 relief, leaving only Rs 276.08 crore for flood relief.

About three years back, the same finance commission had also allocated about Rs 250 crore for flood mitigation in Karnataka. However, Reddy said that it was only recently that local bodies started preparing proposals to be eligible for the funds.

Today, in the absence of proper funding, Bengaluru largely relies on property tax collected by the BBMP to carry out most civic repair works.

With the new state government thrown into the thick of the city’s problems by the latest floods, citizens are hopeful of quick action, ensuring that no life is lost again, and that the city’s infrastructure acquits itself well when the next deluge hits.

For it is only a matter of when, not if.