Karnataka Minister for Health and Family Welfare Dr K Sudhakar said on Tuesday, September 6, that any city in the world including New York would have faced a similar crisis as Bengaluru if it received the same amount of rain as seen over the past few days. Referring to the collapse of infrastructure, and inundation in many residential areas which affected normal life in many parts of Bengaluru – including in areas considered as IT hubs – Sudhakar admitted that the city was indeed disturbed by the heavy rain. He claimed that the volume of rainfall was unheard of in the city's history.
He further questioned former director of Infosys Mohandas Pai, who wrote a letter to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on crumbling infrastructure following the recent rains. Sudhakar said, "What would have happened if New York City would have received the same amount of excessive rain as here? Complaining is a very easy job. Solving the problem is a distant thing. Whose fault is it to merge hundreds of villages into greater Bengaluru and not take up any development?" Sudhakar asked. "During this crisis time, citizens must join their hands with the government to face the situation. This is not the time for blame game," he said.
He said that Bengaluru city has evolved into a big city in terms of development. However, the lakes built in earlier times have disappeared, and houses and commercial constructions have come up on storm water drains, he said, adding that people have constructed their houses in low-lying areas and layouts.
A similar situation of excessive flooding was seen in Chennai in 2015 and also recently in 2021. Hyderabad too witnessed a similar situation earlier this year and in 2020. Experts have time and again reiterated that poor town planning was the reason behind the cities facing repeated floods. On Monday, Telangana Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development KT Rama Rao reacted to the situation in Bengaluru and said that no Indian city including Hyderabad was immune to “the disastrous consequences of climate change.”
“With rapid urbanisation & sub-urbanisation, infrastructure is bound to crumble as we haven’t infused enough capital into upgrading the same,” KTR said. He urged Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri to plan for capital infusion towards “clean roads, clean water, clean air & better storm water management systems.”
To all those who are mocking the water-logged Bengaluru:
— KTR (@KTRTRS) September 5, 2022
Our cities are our primary economic engines driving the States’/Country’s growth
With rapid urbanisation & sub-urbanisation, infrastructure is bound to crumble as we haven’t infused enough capital into upgrading the same
Sudhakar also said, "Our government has got this situation as a gift from successive governments. However, we will take this as a challenge and handle the situation … This is a gift of variations of global climatic conditions ... We have to work unitedly towards building a clean and environment friendly city."
Meanwhile, the opposition Congress on Tuesday organised a protest at Freedom Park against the alleged failure of the BJP government in Karnataka in handling the situation following heavy rain in Bengaluru and other parts of the state. Incessant rainfall in Bengaluru has affected the infrastructure badly and thrown life out of gear. Supply of drinking water to many parts of Bengaluru has also been affected. Many regions were inundated and boats were being used to shift people.
Read: Crater Hyderabad, potholed Bengaluru, flooded Chennai: Metros losing sheen as investment hubs?