Bangalore’s Development Crisis: Flooded and Failing
Explore how unchecked urbanization, pollution, and poor planning are drowning Bangalore in crises, threatening its future as India’s tech capital.
A lot has been said and written about Bangalore’s amazing weather. However, this year, the weather seems to have caused more chaos and destruction than provide scenic relief to citizens of the city.
From September 3-7, the eastern parts of Bangalore were floating in mismanaged infrastructure and corruption.
Earlier this month, the areas of Bellandur, Harlur, HAL, Yemlur, Kadubeesanahalli, Marathahalli road, Sarjapur road, Whitefield & Varthur were waist-deep in water because the lakes situated in these vicinities had broken their banks. The channels connecting the Bellandur, Kasavanahalli, Kaikondrahalli and Varthur lakes that are meant to transport the excess rainwater, were either clogged or missing in patches.
The members of the Bangalore Apartment Federation (BAF) are holding the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) accountable for the incomplete construction of stormwater drains in the aforementioned areas and for slacking off when it came to managing the existing drains.
According to them, an estimated Rs 3,200 crore has been spent on constructing stormwater drains across the city over the last five years. Of this amount, Rs 640 crore was spent to cover east Bangalore (where the aforementioned areas lie).
This area is also an IT hub for the city and generates a considerable percentage of revenue for the state government. As the industry grew so did the residential/commercial complexes in the area. People began building structures on marshlands and lake banks to accommodate the masses from the IT industry.
Prince and pauper floating in the same boat
A bout of heavy rains brought all the excess water onto the roads and into residential localities during the first week of September. This time, it wasn’t just the poor who suffered. Owners of villas costing over Rs 10 crore found themselves wading through water, trying to helplessly save their families.
“The entire ground floor in our villa was flooded,” said Arvind, a resident at Knights wood villas. “We had to swim out and stay at a serviced apartment close by for 4 days.”
IT sector employees were stuck at offices or on roads because of the heavy traffic; Uber and other transport platforms were avoiding the area like a plague. Places like Ecospace techpark and Wipro were waterlogged for days. Rainbow Drive, a residential layout, reported a death because they were unable to reach a hospital in time.
Houses of many domestic workers, that were in basements and lower lying areas, saw water up to seven feet filling up their homes. “We lost all our possessions…ration, clothes, furniture, everything…,” said Durgamma, a domestic worker in the area. “It was all underwater. My husband had to bring his friends the next day to dive into our house and get some clothes and the children's school books. We managed to retrieve some clothing but the books were too damaged to use. We had to finally burn everything.”
Durgamma’s is just one of many such cases. Sadly, many such heaps of discarded unusable possessions lined the roads in the days after the storm.
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