Opinion Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai and beyond — what Indian cities can do to cope with floods

Despite a steady rise in the frequency of natural disasters over the last decade, flooding is by far the most common, accounting for 47 per cent of all weather events from 1995-2015. In the last few years, Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and other cities have experienced frequent floods causing staggering economic and human losses. Various hydrologic-hydraulic models, such as the Noah-MP Land Surface Model, project a 20 per cent increase in extreme precipitation and flooding in the Indian Subcontinent by 2030.

While infrastructure planning is crucial for urban flood mitigation, cities must also build capacities to adapt to climate change. This requires a dual approach; supply-side solutions from governments and the demand-side role of citizens. In the aftermath of floods, the focus is on immediate relief, while systemic and governance issues like spatial planning, financial and personnel capacities, inter-agency coordination, and importantly, ward-level citizen participation are deprioritised.

Planning spaces
Studies show that in large cities, 45 per cent of all urban development within 50 km of city centres, occurs on high recharge potential zones, reducing their permeability. To address this, cities should aim to transition from a grey infrastructure approach to integrating blue-green-grey infrastructure and regulating development in ecosensitive zones like lakebeds and wetlands. However, unsystematic spatial planning makes it impossible to undertake these measures in a structured manner.

Well-prepared and executed spatial plans are fundamental to control the urban sprawl and promote organised urban growth. However, as per Janaagraha’s Annual Survey of India’s City-Systems (ASICS) 2023, nearly 40 per cent of India’s capital cities did not have active spatial master plans. The Delhi Master Plan (MPD) 2041 was to be approved by 2021, with a green development area policy weaved in. However, it has been delayed for several years, even as development projects continue to get approvals. With the 2021 Master Plan poorly implemented, Delhi has effectively seen unplanned growth for almost two decades. Similarly, with the development and approval of the Bengaluru Master Plan 2041 delayed for multiple years, the city still follows the outdated 2015 Master Plan. Research shows that Bengaluru’s urban cover will increase by 58 per cent from 2017 to 2025. If this is the situation in two large metropolises, one can imagine the condition in other cities.

Contemporary challenges are neglected even in cities with spatial plans. Only seven states lawfully mandate plans across sectors like sanitation, resilience, disaster management, and environment. The absence and outdated nature of spatial plans make our cities incapable of informed and organised disaster management.

Citizen participation matters
Without active citizen support, master plans are toothless. Community stake in decision-making processes will ensure that policies and initiatives reflect the first-mile needs and priorities. This could lead to improved administrative, budgetary, and political decentralisation.

It has been more than three decades since the 74th Constitutional Amendment Act (CAA) was enacted with the vision of empowering city governments. However, the CAG’s performance audit in 13 states on the 74th CAA has revealed that no state had fully devolved urban planning functions to city governments, and only three (Maharashtra, Assam, and Kerala) had ward committees in all cities. Only five states (Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Mizoram, and Tamil Nadu) had enacted laws mandating the formation of ward committees. Though the utility of decentralised governance is well appreciated, state municipal acts have not provided for — or states have not operationalised — citizen participation platforms like ward committees.

Cities are still not recognised as distinct tiers of government, but only as sub-tiers of state governments. This hinders their ability to plan, prioritise, and allocate funds and functions based on local needs.

Fragmented civic services
Civic services that play a critical role in disaster management are fragmented in most cities. For example in Bengaluru, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is responsible for constructing drainage infrastructure, while the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) manages stormwater drainage. Further, lake management is distributed across agencies like BBMP, Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Karnataka Forest Department, Lake Development Authority, and even Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL). With such fragmentation in civic agencies’ remits, the role of local governance bodies becomes even more crucial.

Some recent examples, though rare, offer lessons and motivation. After the 2018 floods, the Kerala government mandated the preparation of Local Action Plans for Climate Change (LAPCC), developed by local self-governments, through participatory appraisal. In Karnataka, the Covid-19 pandemic underlined the potential role of ward committees in citizen-government coordination through the Ward Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (DETER) committees.

Devolving governance
Urban disaster management requires collaboration across governance pillars and specialisations. A constitutional amendment recognising cities as distinct governance units could drive urban transformation in India and provide city councils with the legislative backing, and autonomy to prioritise resources, plan locally, and enhance city resilience.

Examples from countries with similar economic and social contexts as India — South Africa, Mexico, the Philippines, Indonesia — show that devolving governance functions in true letter and spirit empowers cities to prioritise needs, ensure efficient services and improve disaster management capacities.

Mandating the formation and ensuring the functioning of ward committees will give space for citizens to hold civic agencies accountable, offer solutions, and become stakeholders in the planning process. It will also be a platform for multiple civic agencies to converge on disaster management.

Timely, participatory, and decentralised spatial planning will play a critical role in how our cities adapt and develop capacities to cope with climate change, highlighting the need for inclusive planning approaches across Indian cities.

Disaster management, and urban flooding in particular, are systemic issues that cannot be solved through a tactical approach alone. Embracing a city-systems framework is not an option, but a necessity to ensure sustainable urban development, and its success hinges on an informed citizenry, empowered through participatory governance.

The writer is Senior Manager Policy and Insights at Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Bengaluru