Over the course of the last two weeks, Hyderabad and Bangalore saw heavy rainfall that brought the cities to their knees. When Telangana’s capital recorded its highest 24-hour rainfall for October in more than a century, its nearly 100-year-old drainage system just couldn’t cope. Maximum casualties were caused by overflowing nullahs, incidents of wall or building collapse, and electrocution.
With an increase in the frequency of extreme weather events such as high-intensity rainfall, Pluvial flooding — rain-driven flooding – has emerged as a critical issue in urban water management.
Why are our cities such a mess? And are these incidents precursors to how much worse things are going to get? Mitali Mukherjee spoke with Professor K.T. Ravindran, who was with the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, as Head of Urban Design, and is also a former Delhi Urban Art Commissioner.
Prof Ravindran said there was an urgent need to work on a National level Urbanisation policy to distribute the unbridled growth around cities. The policy must work in a collaborative way to engage all states.
He also believed that a lack of intent on the part of the Centre, states, and local city bodies had led to the concretizing of open spaces, excessive land encroachment, and piling up both built and demographic density.