BBMP, BWSSB need to be scrapped, says expert

Falah Faisal | NT

Bengaluru:

The recent thunderstorms in Bengaluru have led to severe flooding in several parts of the city, causing substantial loss of property, traumatic disruption, and even loss of lives. This has got everyone talking about what to do if this becomes a regular occurrence with climate change which is very much upon us.

The second in a series of talks organised by BIC, ‘Living with Storms’ brought together Civil Engineer Vishwanath Srikantaiah, Environmental Policy Advocate Leo Saldanha and Nirmala Gowda of Paani.earth, in a talk moderated by Meera K, Co-Founder of Citizen Matters, to discuss solutions.

“People are the first to pass on the blame instead of trying to be part of the solution,” said Vishwanathan as he detailed how the city had destroyed its water bodies. “What we call lakes aren’t lakes but tanks which weren’t even sufficient to provide water to a population of just 2 lakhs in the 1870 and led to malaria and plague. Which is what led to the Hessarghatta pipeline being built,” he stated. He wants the storm water drainage system to be modernized.

Leo Saldhana who has been doing environmental advocacy for nearly 30 years, said “The CM only goes to areas that are flooded where rich people live, he doesn’t visit the poor. The reason we are all talking about this now is because the rich have been affected.” He blames the rise of urbanization, technocracy and the over-engineering of lakes for the problem. “The BBMP and BWSSB are colonial constructs that need to be scrapped. They aren’t built to handle modern problems,” said Vishwanatham and emphasised on upgrading the suboptimal infrastructure while stressing on the need for transparency.

Leo believes that the 74th amendment needs to be implemented which seeks to provide a common framework for the structure and mandate of urban local bodies to enable them to function as effective democratic units of local Self Government. “Unless the poor are represented, the city will collapse,” he said.

Nirmala pointed out the atmosphere of fear that has been created when a citizen tries to get involved. “When we tried to hold meetings with farmers on the issue we were threatened by gundas, stopped from entering the area and anyone who helped us was beaten up,” she recounted.

When the discussion was opened up to the audience, one of them asked what they would say if they had 5 minutes with the CM, Leo said "I would ask him to not interfere with the City. He is the CM of the state. This is a disease that started with SM Krishna getting overly involved and has led to centralization of power."  “It took London 150 years to clean up the Thames after the Industrial Revolution, it will take us at least 30 years to clean up our act,” according to Vishwanath as the talk concluded without any common ground.