Last week, Bengaluru was battered by rains that were unprecedented in scale and floods that were disastrous in impact. While the rains have abated, thousands living on the periphery of the Bellandur-Varthur lakes in east Bengaluru are still gripped by fear, worried that deliberately narrowed drains, encroachment of wetlands, and state apathy could trigger another round of devastation.
For years, the Karnataka government and the city corporation, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, has held out a long-term fix for the recurring floods – remodelling the city’s stormwater drains. But 16 years after its launch, the project is nowhere near completion and, worse still, has a glaring design flaw that ironically aggravated the flooding this year.
