Guest column: Alert! BBMP demolition rubble will cause flooding

The BBMP is going about its demolition drive very unscientifically. Although there is no denying that it is doing its job of clearing  the encroachments on storm water drains, the demolitions are being carried out very haphazardly without giving the occupants enough notice.  

Also, many areas are now being cluttered with the debris, which is either blocking the easy flow of water in storm water drains or simply obstructing the roads. You can see the debris lying on the roads in areas like Rajarajeshwari Nagar and Bannerghatta, where it is inconveniencing people.

The BBMP cannot even ask the locals for help in clearing it.  Why should those  who have lost their properties be worried about the rubble left behind ?

The civic agency has to find a more scientific way of disposing the building rubble lying on the roads in the areas where its bulldozers have been busy of late.

For the sake of preventing waterlogging in rain, it needs to immediately collect the debris of the demolished buildings and send it to nearby Construction and Debris  plants, where it can be segregated into metal, wood, concrete and bricks. The concrete is crushed here to make hollow bricks and other useful material.

In fact, the BBMP should have planned the  disposal of the debris on these lines much before it embarked on the operation.

 P Mahalakshmi, Secretary, Citizen Action Forum