Bengaluru: Restore connectivity between lakes to prevent flooding, says activist

Kumar: In natural settings, rainwater either gets soaked into the soil or makes its way to drains, streams, lakes and rivers. If these are maintained efficiently, we will never face floods and calamities. In Bengaluru, deposits of silt in the drains and encroachments of drains and catchment areas of lakes have led to the flooding in certain parts. Unplanned urbanisation has drastically altered the drainage characteristics of natural catchments, thereby increasing the volume and rate of surface runoff. Drainage systems are unable to cope with the increased volume of water and are often encountered with the blockage because of the indiscriminate disposal of solid waste. Encroachment of wetlands and floodplains obstructs floodways, causing the loss of natural flood storage.

In the past few years, you have been restoring storm-water drains to establish connectivity between lakes in Anekal.

Kumar: I have found the reason why some of the lakes, even in good rainfall, remain dry. Natural drains that carry water from one lake to another lake are either not found or cannot carry water. The reasons are the deposit of silt and vegetation grown in them. Most drains have been encroached on by property owners. I have studied the topography of the terrain in Anekal. Along with the locals, I coordinate with the taluk administration for getting encroachment-eviction orders issued. We then coordinate with the departments of land survey, Panchayti Raj, minor irrigation and forest. The major challenge we face is to get Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) officials to remove the electric poles that have been placed on drains and lakes without the revenue department’s permission. 

After the restoration of the storm-water drain network in parts of Anekal, has the situation improved? 

We did not see any major case of flooding in those areas where the network of drains has been restored. The process is ongoing.

How did you find that a section of storm-water drains has been encroached on? 

I have read the official records of the minor irrigation and revenue departments. By looking into the base map of the village dating back to the 1880s, 1923s, 1958s, one can easily identify encroachments. Moreover, I also go through the survey map issued by the survey department for a particular project and check if it adhered to the claims made in the survey. I took the Muthanallur lake area as a pilot project in 2020 and started studying about drains. There were four rajakaluvaes (storm-water drains) from the Muthanallur lake to the Bidaragupae lake as recorded in 1886/1923. All of these were either completely or partially encroached and could not carry water. It was a perennial problem of the neighbouring areas getting flooded during every rain. On March 24 last year, we cleared an encroachment from one of the drains and established connectivity between the Muthanallur lake and the Batalakere lake. We replicated similar things in Kachanayakanahalli village and got the drains cleared of encroachments.