It is that time of the year again, when people look to the skies with a cautious prayer on their lips. We are of course talking about the North-East Monsoon, the excess or deficit of which more or less determines if water tankers become a common sight on the roads come the next summer. A common sentiment that is expressed is that while people want the rains, they do not want the destruction that it could potentially cause to infrastructure and throw day-to-day life out of gear. Expecting nature to not take its own course because of man-made inadequacies is well, plain naive to say the least. What is essential is to ensure that all preparedness and planning is in place to ensure that damages, if any are minimized. And unfortunately, that is where the city has been found regularly lacking.
What is surprising to note is that the same set of scenarios play out year after year. Take for instance the storm-water drain works. While it is a no brainer that these are vital cogs in the wheel for flood mitigation, it is the timing of these projects that more often than not contribute to the mess during the monsoon. While the city is dry as a bone for most of the year, starting January, it is not until August or worse, in some cases September, that these projects see some action. This writer speaks out of first-hand experience, having been at the receiving end of all sorts of civic woes arising thanks to storm-water drain works on his road last September, which coincided with the arrival of the monsoon. It was not until mid-January this year that some semblance of normalcy was restored to the road.
One would reasonably expect that learning lessons from the past, any proposed works of similar nature would be carried out well in advance the next time around. Sadly, there has been no change in the way things have unfolded this year, with work on storm-water drains on the adjoining road (which thanks to the diversion of routes due to ongoing Metro Rail works in the area, has become a bus route) starting quite recently and fighting a deadline to complete them before the onset of the monsoon. The Mayor’s statement at a council meeting in late August as reported in the newspapers, that all storm-water drain work in the city may not be fully completed by the upcoming monsoon, comes across as a startling admission of all that is not right with the way these projects are planned and executed.
The road cuts as a part of various ongoing civic projects pose significant dangers as well. Typically, all road cuts are halted well before the onset of the monsoon. The recent announcement that permission for road-cuts has been extended to October 15th this year (right on the cusp of the expected onset) sets the alarm bells ringing. Experience with the way things have unfolded in the past has raised concerns amongst the residents who fear half-dug up roads, unfinished drains and risk of flooding.
For a city which aspires to be a world-class one, it is essential that a proper comprehensive plan is drawn up covering all aspects of civic infrastructure upgrade with a special focus on monsoon preparedness, which is followed fully in spirit. The call for urgent reforms in the way land and water are managed, as well as the dangers posed by unplanned urbanization are handled, cannot be ignored. As the popular saying goes, those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it, and it would be absolute callousness and indifference on the part of those responsible to leave the citizens in the lurch year after year.