One more life lost; when will our officials wake up?

Realisation no doubt dawns too late on civic officials in Bengaluru, who were in for a harrowing time on Sunday when they realised that enough had not been done to ensure that pre-monsoon rains do not wreak havoc in the state capital.

Just a day after Karnataka saw the installation of a new government, came the horrifying news that amid gusty winds, rain and hailstorm, a 22-year-old woman belonging to a family from Vijayawada had lost her life in a submerged underpass right in the heart of the city. Touching visuals have emerged of the distraught family and of the CM trying to console them, but then a life has been lost for no fault of the victim.

The South-West Monsoon is more than 20 days away, and this is the time for officials in the BBMP, power utility, water board and other organisations involved in maintaining civic infrastructure to get their act right, so that the damage due to incessant rains is kept minimum. The same rains had caused widespread damage last year in May and this should have been enough of a reminder to officials that monsoon preparedness should start early.

It is the time of the year when storm-water drains and rajakaluves are cleaned, tree branches pruned, potholes filled and spots vulnerable to flooding identified and problems rectified. Sunday’s mayhem made it more than evident that nothing has been done so far with the streets strewn with branches and twigs, and flooded at most places. It being a Sunday, many residents were out enjoying the calm weather when all of a sudden the skies opened up sending them scurrying for cover.

Memories of the havoc caused by the deluge in OctoberNovember last year are fresh in public memory. It was the time when even elite residential localities got flooded and boats were brought out to rescue marooned people. Even the plush international airport was not spared with water gushing into its interiors.

The state of pothole-ridden roads then was enough to make many resident blush, wondering how the Garden City could be wrecked in this manner. The hurried pothole-filling activity undertaken by the previous BJP government before the polls did help restore the roads to some extent but one can imagine their condition once the monsoon arrives with full force.

It’s obvious from the haunting time people had on Sunday that the city is least prepared for the monsoon. Officials may blame it on their preoccupation with the Assembly polls, which got over just a week ago, but then that’s no excuse for leaving drains blocked that has impeded the free flow of rainwater and led to flooding on roads and in underpasses.

Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city, which draws people from across the world, and they come on business trips, for workrelated assignments, as tourists and for other purposes. The Silicon Valley of the country is perpetually under the scanner and when something adverse happens, it is sure to hit the global limelight, inviting criticism from far and near. And this is a business hub that earns the country lakhs of crores of rupees in foreign exchange from the export of IT and related products and services.

Yet what has been a serious cause of concern in recent years is the steep fall in the quality of civic infrastructure that even business honchos with deep roots in the city have been forced to criticise. With a new ruling dispensation that has won an overwhelming mandate from the people in place, nothing should stop those in power from drawing up effective and innovative plans to free Bengaluru from the infra woes it has been experiencing.

A city waits to regain its lost glory and there’s nothing impossible for those who have the foresight and power to make dreams come alive.