Why do Indian cities start crying in pain after a few hours of rain?
Every year during the rainy season, the story of the disorderliness of our cities is common due to poor urbanization. Despite this, our policymakers are unable to learn and understand from prior mistakes. A few hours of rain choked the city’s drainages and leaves many areas into mess. Therefore, many problematic situations in front of city people arises, like traffic jams, waterlogging, land sliding, road subsidence, electrocution and human loss.
Notably, the problem of poor infrastructure and wobbly local bodies has become mammoth as the result of poor urbanization. Our experience for this year is similar to the previous year. The horrifying condition of our cities and the preparedness of our government has let us down as always. The government in their clarification gave the reason for unexpected and torrential rainfall. All the people are aware about the problem of climate change. They know they have to face scorching heat in the summer, cold in the winter and torrential rainfall in the rainy season. But here the question arises that, are our government institutions are ready to cope up with the upcoming situations?
Currently, our government is still working hard to maintain our fundamental infrastructure. The major problem is insufficient drainage network and age-old drainage system. In most of the cities, the British government built the drainage lines, when the population was very less. The other troubling factor is the kinds of stuffs, flowing in these drains. Plastic materials, industrial wastes, and other non-biodegradable things pollute and clog the drain.
Moreover, less than half of the Indian cities have sewage coverage. Because of this, many time people accidentally fall into sewage tanks and lost their lives. Properly covered sewage can also be used as a structure for different purpose. More than half of the houses are still not connected to the sewage lines. We can’t stop the pollution of rivers, groundwater and agricultural land unless all the sewage lines connect to the sewage treatment plant. Government has to expand the drainage network, withstanding it encroachment free condition. Furthermore, we are far away from the target of required rainwater harvesting. This will be helpful to solve the problem of waterlogging and also increase the groundwater level.
There is a fundamental principle of management-unity of command, which is generally not followed. The different ministries and departments regulate the conduction and maintenance work of sewage and drainage networkers. Municipal corporation, Development Authority, Irrigation Department and Cantonment Board have various responsibilities to handle the poor urbanization. The dilemma is that everybody is responsible, but nobody has accountability. It would be meaningful to establish coordination among these and set accountability.
We will only feel the true essence of a ‘Smart City’ when poor urbanization transforms into smart urbanization. Policymakers, departments, and authorities can achieve this by properly planning, coordinating, and managing their activities. As a citizen, it’s our duty also to properly utilise the drainage and sewer network.
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