There are worried calls from friends & relatives across India on whether we are above water, and doing alright.  Being in High Grounds, Bangalore, one can understand why I am safe, but this has gone beyond a joke. We are drowning.  Not just in rain water but in apathy, indifference, poor planning, ineptitude, corruption as well as a lack of collaboration & ownership

In many parts of Bangalore, people across economic categories are sitting in flooded homes, watching their shelter and possessions going under water. Over 75 areas in Bangalore are under water after heavy rains lashed the city. Thousands of residents have been displaced or are stranded and there has been huge loses to property. Many are spending nights surrounded by 4-5 feet water. Basements, car parks, schools are flooded and visuals of people being rescued are all over the news. While several teams are working on the ground, the city remains in a stand still mode.

Techies and city residents who are barely recovering from the impact of Covid on work and families, are faced with another barrage of problems. Preventible, you might ask? For sure. 

Whether it is the CM's office, the BDA, BBMP, BWSSB, BESCOM, KIADB, KPB, LDA, Pollution Board or the Lake Authority - oh, the acronyms can go on and on. But citizens? We can’t go on anymore. The Citizens are exhausted, at calling it out, being dismissed as naysayers or activists, filing cases or running after authorities, telling them what they should already know. Citizens should be more involved, one might say, but in a woke city like Bangalore, there is nothing more the residents could have done. So don't dare point your finger at us, this time. 

There are so many reasons for this issue, we know. Building permissions, encroachment of lakes, stormwater drains (some are 4 feet instead of 30 feet wide) -  the list goes on. But it is almost entirely due to poor planning, corruption and lack of interdepartmental cooperation - and ownership. The buck? It passes. 

In a short while, the powers-that-be will cluck sympathetically, make some appropriate calming  noises , allot vast sums to ‘repair & address’ and go back to cushy offices and planning exercises on future city concerns. But the baby with the bathwater may be a real issue. When the sun comes back (and it will) , just remember  one thing.  Let not our memories and outrage about this time, evaporate in its rays. For the next year, the next decade, the next generation and for a sustainable city. With all its heritage and past and a shining future, does our city and its citizens need the shame and rage of a recurrence?

We must hold the authorities accountable and we must find a way for the culprits to pay. Will courts be the only alternative? I hope not. Will citizens? Stop leaning. Stop making it about us doing more. We are spent and we don't want to.  We have worked much harder than what is needed in a supposedly intelligent, well planned and responsive city. We have researched, shared, requested, applied ourselves, created panel discussions, got citizen groups together, knocked on doors, written op-eds, we have done everything we could.
We are done.

Enough already. It is time for the citizens to demand solutions. 

Links:

• Cry Me a River: Why Bengaluru suffers from flooding repeatedly
• Bengaluru floods: Drone footage of outer ring 
• https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/monsoon-bengaluru-floods-rains-weather-8126932/