Bengaluru rains: How bad infra took Indian Silicon Valley under the weather

A few days ago, Bengaluru, often regarded as India's Silicon Valley, almost drowned after torrential rains wreaked havoc in the city. As relentless monsoon continued to batter the city, transport and business operations took a toll, eventually leading to many firms triggering emergency business continuity plans, allowing work from home, or passing crucial work to locations outside Bengaluru.

Long traffic snarls, widespread power cuts and heavy floods sweeping into homes and submerged roads disrupted everyday life in Bengaluru for days, with many bearing the brunt. Still, it was "brand Bengaluru" that suffered most of all.

According to reports, the newer and affluent parts of the city were worst affected by the floods, which somehow affected Bengaluru's image as a welcoming cosmopolitan city.

This is the highest rainfall in the last 32 years, said Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, adding that 164 lakes in Bengaluru have filled up with water.

IT Snag
 

The flood on August 30, which brought parts of Bengaluru to its knees, led to a loss of about Rs 225 crore in a single day, the Information Technology and banking companies said in their letter to CM Bommai, seeking his attention to address the "appalling infrastructure" of the city.

The Outer Ring Road Companies Association (ORRCA) appealed to the government to expedite improvement projects on vital arterial roads to ORR, such as Old Airport Road, ITPL Road and Varthur Road, as their staff and general public regularly use them.

On September 6, CM Bommai said the government had decided to release Rs 600 crore to manage the flood situation in the state, out of which Rs 300 crore is kept for Bengaluru alone.

A total of Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated for the construction of stormwater drains in Bengaluru, Bommai said, adding the work will begin once the water recedes.

Technology companies also aired their grievances before Karnataka IT/BT Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, urging him to find a solution to the rain-related woes.

In reply, the Minister assured them that the state government would help find a permanent solution to the infrastructural issues in the Mahadevpura zone, which witnessed water logging, by next year.

Political darts
 

As the infrastructure planning came to the fore, a political blame game began, with all parties training their guns on each other for the state of affairs in the city. CM Bommai blamed the 'misrule' and lack of planning by the previous Congress government in the state.

He has accused the grand old party of giving permissions for construction activities "right-left-centre" in the lake areas, on tank bunds and buffer zones during its regime.

He charged that Rs 800 crore was spent on the remodelling of drains, but that amount was not utilised properly, which is evident from the fact that the encroachment was not removed. The CM alleged that all major builders have encroached upon the major drains in the past 15 years.

Hitting back, Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah accused the ruling BJP in Karnataka of trying to shift the blame on the Congress to hide its failures. He urged the government to come out with a white paper regarding clearing encroachments on stormwater drains in the city, as he claimed that the "brand Bengaluru" is getting affected.