Rains expose Bengaluru’s poor infrastructure

With record rains in Bengaluru in October, it is not only the city’s crumbling infrastructure that is making news, but also its IT/ITeS corridors.

Rains on Sunday and Monday have exposed areas along the Outer Ring Road on the Sarjapur-Marathahalli Road around RMZ Ecoworld, where several builders and companies have encroached wetlands and rajakaluves.

Rains in east Bengaluru have exposed the new buildings that have come up on encroached lakes, wetlands or rajakaluves, leading to flooding. Flooding in the IT/ITeS corridor here has forced many companies to ask their employees to work from home. Now, even after 48 hours, water levels have not receded.

The city, which has been experiencing unprecedented flooding in both the southern and northern areas, has led to activists asking uncomfortable questions about the nexus between politicians and builders.

An activist pointed out that some buildings on the Sarjapur-Marathahalli Ring Road have come up on water bodies and rajakaluves.

The Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who toured the rain-affected areas in the city on Friday, said his government has taken up steps to repair the 850-km stormwater drain network in the city by allocating ₹800 crore. “No government, including that of the BJP, has done this in the past,” he claimed.

Bengaluru is a city located on a hillock wherefive or six lakes empty into each other. In the eastern part of the city the Madivala Lake is linked to Agara lake, Belandur lake and Varthur lake – they drain into Dakshin Pinakini river in Hosur in Tamil Nadu. RMZ Ecoworld and other IT/ITeS complexes are located along this network of lakes. During the September rains, due to the restricted water flow in Koramangala and Madivala, many areas got inundated. Last week, due to the torrential rains, many IT/ITeS company campuses in Electronic City and Hosur Road also got flooded.

Similarly, north Bengaluru’s network of lakes has taken the brunt of unprecedented rains. Allasandara lake drains onto Jakkur lake and then to Rachenahalli, Nagawara and beyond.

This week Allasandara lake and Yelahanka lake overflowed towards Jakkur lake flooding residential layouts and apartment complexes. One such complex is Kendriya Vihar.

A majority of residents of Kendriya Vihar, a Central government residential complex in Yelahanka, were stranded due to flooding and were forced to remain indoors for more than five days. Water from Yelahanka lake overflowed into the apartment complex, home to 600 families.

On Saturday and Sunday, residents had to wade through knee-deep water, and on Sunday, electricity was cut off as a precautionary measure.

According to the State government’s estimate, damage cost in the city is around ₹1,700 crore. KJ George, Bengaluru Development Minister, said the BBMP is working full time in clearing all the drains.

George claimed the authorities have filled 12,000 of the 24,000 potholes in the city identified by BBMP and traffic police.

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