India's tech capital, Bengaluru, still has no answer to rain woes

Heavy pre-monsoon rainfall overnight in Bengaluru caused waterlogging in various parts of the city, once again highlighting the inadequate civic infrastructure in India’s information technology (tech) capital and drawing the ire of citizens who vented their frustrations on social media.

 

The city received about 103 millimetres of rainfall over the past 24 hours, according to reports by the India Meteorological Department, throwing life out of gear on a Monday morning with roads inundated, underpasses submerged, neighbourhoods under water, and infamous traffic jams paralysing the busy office corridors.

 

Manyata Tech Park, one of the well-known business parks in Bengaluru’s northern corridor, housing companies such as IBM and Nokia, resembled a lake with two feet of water at the entry points. There was no immediate comment from the park’s owner, Embassy Office Parks, or from IBM.

 

The worst-affected areas were Yelahanka in north Bengaluru, Silk Board in the south, and Rajarajeshwari Nagar (RR Nagar), Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner Maheshwar Rao told Business Standard. “The overnight rainfall is the second highest this decade, behind what we faced in 2022. That has led to major waterlogging in those areas. While water has already subsided in most of the other areas, there are still some issues in areas where infrastructure work was going on and drainage lines were not cleared,” he added.

 

Over the past few days, the city has seen cloudbursts with 15–20 centimetres of rainfall, which have affected the low-lying areas the worst. For example, in Sai Layout in Horamavu, which falls under the Mahadevapura zone, the streets are submerged in four to five feet of water. Water and food were distributed in the layout. The BBMP, however, said in a post on X that waterlogging has been cleared on some of the major roads in the Yelahanka zone. 

 

Rao said on X that he visited and inspected the rain-affected areas of Sai Layout, Manyata Tech Park, and Nagawara Junction following Sunday night’s heavy downpour. “Directed officials to deploy pumps and ensure quick drainage of water wherever waterlogging persists. Assured that permanent measures will be initiated to resolve the recurring waterlogging issue in Sai Layout, which falls under BBMP jurisdiction.”

 

The rains led to snarled traffic, and images of water flooding the streets circulated across various social media. “We’ve got artificial intelligence to detect cancer, drone delivery for biryani, and apps to schedule your pet’s meditation session. But no clue how to build a decent drainage system. And this is the tech capital of the country,” said entrepreneur Dilip Kumar.

 

Prestige Group, another developer with many business parks across the city, said it has a standard operating process that ensures its tech parks are never inundated with water. That includes lakes and drains surrounding these parks being cleaned regularly by working with relevant stakeholders and management teams.

 

“The biggest problem in the city is that there’s too much construction happening everywhere. There is Metro, roadways, and GAIL (India) gas connection work happening every now and then. It looks like a city under construction all over again,” Juggy Marwaha, chief executive officer (CEO), Prestige Office Ventures, said in a statement.

 

RMZ's Bengaluru campuses have successfully avoided any waterlogging impact, with business operations continuing uninterrupted across all campuses, a spokesperson said.

 

Bengaluru’s civic body said it has requested companies to ask their employees to work from home, as traffic will be slow-moving. Lok Sabha Member of Parliament P C Mohan said all companies in the city, including Infosys, must declare two days of work from home due to heavy rains.

 

“They can’t clear waterlogged roads or fallen trees after a single downpour, but they want to dig tunnels costing Rs 48,000 crore to ‘solve’ Bengaluru’s traffic? Maybe the tunnel’s real purpose is to serve as a water reservoir,” Mohan said on X, taking a sideswipe at the state government.