GENRE: In Focus

In Part 1 of this series, we saw that a CAG report of 2021 revealed Bengaluru does not have a complete map or database of its stormwater drain network. Drains are mapped in two master plans - the Revised Master Plan (RMP 2015) by the BDA (Bangalore Development Authority), and the BBMP’s master plan of drains. But the former does not indicate the type of drain (primary/secondary/tertiary), and the latter does not include tertiary/roadside drains at all. Neither plan has marked the buffer zones around drains; and many drains are missing in either document or both. Drains mapped in BBMP's…

“I feel like crying when talking about the problems we are facing now,” laments Mary, a resident of Chennai’s Perumbakkam resettlement colony, who has been grappling with the recent floods. “We do not have access to water, electricity or food. Government authorities have not taken any relief measures whatsoever.” Anguished voices such as Mary's are now echoing across the resettlement colonies in the city. Unlike buildings elsewhere, people on the ground floor were not the only ones who had water enter their homes. “The top floors had water leaking in many of the buildings because the construction is of poor…

It takes very little to flood a road or home in Bengaluru. In recent weeks, rains have caused severe flooding in many parts of the city, especially in North Bengaluru. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the city’s stormwater drain (SWD) system, released this September, shows why this shouldn’t be a surprise at all.  In any city, stormwater drains are critical for: Preventing flood and its related effectMaintaining clean lakes/water bodiesGroundwater recharge But Bengaluru’s drainage system has been badly mismanaged by the city corporation BBMP’s Stormwater Drain (SWD) department, finds the audit report. The report covered…

Families of six workers who worked in a shoe factory in Delhi’s Udyog Vihar, had to wait two days in front of the factory for the charred remains of victims of an industrial fire in the factory on June 23rd this year to be found. The fire broke out in a three-story building trapping 12 workers inside. It took 140 firefighters over six hours to control the fire, rescuing six while the other six died inside the building. On November 13, another fire broke out in a jacket manufacturing factory in Seelampur, Delhi. Five workers were rescued from inside the…

The recent spell of rains in Chennai saw large-scale inundation across the city. Visuals of residents wading in knee-deep water dominated the news. Many residents saw water enter their homes and found their belongings destroyed. Anguish and anger poured out on social media posts of those who went through this harrowing experience. And all along came questions about the city's many stormwater drains and why they failed to serve the purpose. Are the questions being asked of the stormwater drain project in the city legitimate? Could design flaws in the stormwater drains be a contributing factor to wide-spread water stagnation? What…

Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu, is one of the fastest-growing metropolitans in the country. The growing population and city expansion has stressed the existing infrastructure of Chennai, especially the transport systems. The transport sector needs to be planned to cater to the existing needs and meet the future demands of the growing population by taking into account changing travel patterns. Multiple studies have been conducted to devise a cohesive transportation plan for Chennai such as the Integrated Transport Plan 1977, Madras Area Transport Study 1986, Madras Route Rationalisation Study 1986, Traffic and Transportation Study for MMA 1986, Comprehensive…

It did not last long. 10 days after the reopening of schools in Delhi for Classes 1 to 5, they had to be closed again because of severe air pollution in the national capital region. According to the latest, schools will remain closed till November 21st, but if they do reopen after that, the experiences and observations reported here from early November may well continue to present the true scenario among schools, teachers and students. Sagar and Sonali were overjoyed when they learnt that they would be going back to their school in Ghazipur from November 1st. Their mother Kriti…

It was around 5 am on November 7th, Sunday, when VS Jayaraman was woken up by his brother, who stayed in the ground floor of their apartment. There was considerable commotion at their apartment complex during the early hours of that day. Water had entered all the flats in the ground floor of the building, which is located on Motilal street in T Nagar, as a result of the heavy rains and the subsequent flooding in Chennai through the night of November 6th and the early hours of November 7th. “We immediately notified the Corporation officials as well as the…

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government in 2010 passed the Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA) Act with the intention to oversee and coordinate the activities of the various agencies involved in the planning and operation of the transportation system in the city. However, a decade since the Act was passed, the much talked about nodal body is yet to get off the mark and remains largely on paper. Chennai city is famous for its multiple modes of public transport in the form of suburban trains and the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) operated by the Southern Railways, the Metro…

Six months after Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) Nitin Gadkari introduced the much awaited vehicle scrappage scheme in the Lok Sabha, the Delhi government on September 27th announced its new policy to scrap all 15-year-old diesel vehicles in Delhi and the NCR. “Diesel vehicles older than 15 years will be impounded and sent to the scrapping yard if they are found plying on city roads or parked in public places,” said Delhi Transport Commissioner Ashish Kundra. The scrappage policy announced by Gadkari is a government-funded programme to get old vehicles off the roads. This is expected to reduce pollution,…