Bengaluru residents, shop owners blame Smart City projects for flooding, waterlogging

Residents of some flood-hit areas in Bengaluru have blamed the smart city projects for waterlogging and flooding issues in the city. According to a ToI report, several residents and shop owners have complained that their shops and houses started getting flooded since Bengaluru Smart City (BENSCL) undertook development works in their areas since 2020.

According to the report, shop owner and residents on Veerapillai Road in Shivajinagar, Kamaraj Road expressed frustrations over 'unscientific' and 'ill-thought' Smart City works in their localities.

"We never faced this issue until 2020. Now, above-average rain results in water rising up to the knee-level and entering all buildings. The last two monsoons have been very troublesome and it has been caused by civic work that raised the height of the road and undid the old plumbing or sanitation network," ToI quoted a resident as saying.


Residents claim that sewage does not flow away during rain and is forced backwards into homes from the bathroom drains. "Things are happening in reverse since the start of Smart City work", they said.

To prevent this backflow into homes, shops and house owners have constructed 1 feet-tall concrete embankments.
But this has also not ended their miseries as the water flows over the wall and gushes into their quarters in heavy rains.

After unprecedented rains lashed the city since Sunday, the IT capital of India has literally been on its knees. Rain and water overflowing from the city's many lakes have turned roads into rivers, and flooded houses. Bengaluru received 135 mm of rainfall between August 31 and September 6.