Faced with another season of flooding in the monsoon, BBMP commissioner, N. Manjunath Prasad says that unless officials and the public behave responsibly, it will be hard to deal with encroachment of storm water drains, which is largely responsible for the mess. Excerpts from an interview:
What led to the flooding of South Bengaluru?
The heavy downpour of the last three days has been too much for the city’s drain network and lakes to handle. The encroachments on drains and of lakes has blocked the natural flow of water, and caused the flooding. In some areas, there is no continuity of drains because of the encroachments. The breaching of the Kodichikkanahalli and Hulimavu lakes also let water into the streets, inconveniencing the people.
When the BBMP spends crores on the city’s drain network, why is there no continuity?
The city has a 840 km long drain network. But with our present budget we are able to tackle only 250 kms of it. We spend Rs. 7 crore on just one kilometre of storm water drain. Going by this, the city will need Rs. 6,000 crore more for the upkeep of the remaining 590 kms.
Why has the BBMP failed to evict the encroachers?
Sometimes elected representatives and at other times the courts tie our hands when it comes to clearing encroachments. Besides, it is difficult to mobilise the police, revenue and BBMP officials to clear the encroachments given their tight schedules.
Who should be blamed for the flooding? Are you fixing accountability on the engineers concerned?
The people, including myself and the BBMP are to be blamed. Citizens should be responsible and fight the encroachments. Also, public representatives should stop shielding the encroachers and the media must expose those responsible. This way, everybody in society will be responsible.
