Bangalore has developed greatly in the 21st century, emerging as the city of technology, industry, enterprise and above all, of opportunity. The overall growth in the city has been phenomenal in many aspects. Between 2001 and 2011 alone, the population of Bangalore increased by nearly 65% and now stands at over 12.5 million people. However, such rapid growth has also posed its own set of challenges before Bangalore – the challenges of making this growth process more sustainable, inclusive and citizen-centric.
Bangalore could be THE city for being the #1 investment and development hub, but there are certain factors that definitely hinders, leaving the city unable to meet opportunities for all round development. Some of those factors are going to be discussed in this article. They are as follows:
1) Traffic
Every Bangalorean knows about the dreaded traffic problem in the city. As of December 2017, the city had nearly 7.3 million vehicles, up 74% from 2012. This has been fueled in large parts by the steady expansion of the tech industry, which has drawn migrants from across India and even the world. The result is slowly magnifying chaos. One famous job-interview joke about Bengaluru goes like this:
Manager: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
Interviewee: Silk Board Junction!
The average vehicle speed in Bangalore, they say, never exceeds 18km per hour, making it one of the slowest cities in India. And the average speed only slows down. With the development of modes of public transportation like buses and the metro, the traffic scene had seen a reasonable improvement, but it only slowed down the rate it’s growing at a bit. Public transportation, cycling, walking and carpooling need to be encouraged more to tackle this problem.
In 2017, the vehicle population in Bengaluru stood at 67.22 lakh. In the absence of an efficient public transport system, private vehicles dominate the city’s landscape. There were 46.54 lakh two wheelers (70%), 13.01 lakh cars (19%), 1.35 lakh taxis and 1.71 lakh autorickshaws. The struggle to get from point A to point B with each other only kept growing.
When the city’s population was 16.64 lakh (in 1971), the vehicle population was just around one lakh. Nobody, not even the planners, saw what was to come. Bangalore’s traffic situation hit us like an unforeseen nightmare.
2) Water
Bangalore is confronted today with a massive water shortage, with slum-dwellers bearing a major portion of the brunt. Most of these communities are supplied water by private tankers, which charge exorbitant rates without any guarantee of purity. While job opportunities have soared in the sprawling city, millions have no piped water and instead rely on those armies of privately-run tankers that suck water from wells inside and outside the city and deliver it to homes. Other families dig unauthorized private wells in search of water for drinking, bathing, laundry and other daily needs. Even those living in long-established neighborhoods with piped water often find water trickling, rather than gushing, from the tap. But at least the long-established neighbourhoods have access to water pitcher which filters the water thoroughly before it is used for consumption.
The revised master plan for the city, published by the Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA), has predicted that city’s population will increase by approximately 8 million and reach 20.3 million between 2019 and 2031. According to a study by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the city will become uninhabitable in the next few years if its population continues to grow at this alarming rate. This population growth has put a strain on the city’s natural resources and led to the depletion of lakes and wells. Even the Cauvery water that two-thirds of Bengaluru receives is not sufficient due to the Supreme Court ruling which limits the amount of water that can be released to the city. Due to inefficient city planning, the newer areas are forced to depend on tankers and borewells.
Average annual rainfall in Bangalore is about 787mm with 75% dependability and return period of 5 years. The total annual water yield in Bangalore is about 14.80 TMC. Domestic demand of water is about 20.05 TMC per year. This means about 73% of Bangalore’s water demand can be met by efficient harvesting of rain water.
3) Pollution
Bangalore, once known as the famed “Garden City”, is now the land of smoke and pollution. The pollution here will leave you breathless, literally. Contributors to air pollution are unique to each city, but vehicular pollution is among those concerns that contributes maximum to air pollution in Bengaluru. Bengaluru is also impacted by the inadequate urban governance causing issues such as treatment of waste and usage of diesel generators for electricity.
According to the Central Pollution Control Board, 14 areas in Bengaluru including Central Silk Board Junction, ITPL Whitefield Road and Domlur Circle, which are key commercial areas in the city, have harmful particulate matter levels exceeding the national standards by a significant margin. A study conducted by Urban Emissions also shows that Bengaluru’s pollution levels are at three times the WHO’s safety limit.
Improving Bengaluru’s air must become a priority. The first step towards cleaning air pollution in Bengaluru is to create an enabling environment for course correction and strengthen the decision making institutions. This structure will pave way for preparation of the much needed city wide action plan to combat air pollution.
Data indicates that 60-70% of the emissions is said to originate from vehicles. This makes the city the only one in India to be most impacted by vehicular pollution. The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) suffers from a deficit of manpower, infrastructure and competence. There are 60% vacancies from its sanctioned strength forcing each technical officer to monitor the emission norms of up to 200 factories. This certainly impacts the quality of checks
4) Overall infrastructure
Often during heavy rains, streets get flooded. The water gets into homes, damaging property and makes lives difficult. This is a result of poor infrastructure. Bangalore is crying out for an infrastructure overhaul. The city’s urban infrastructure has not been able to keep pace with its growth. Apart from drainage and sewers, the overall development of the city has been slacking. One of the best symbols for Bengaluru’s neglected urban infrastructure is an eight-lane flyover project meant to connect West Bengaluru to the rest of the city. It has been in the making for the last eight years, and, even as the cost escalated from Rs. 115 crore to Rs. 226 crore, all that has been made for the Okalipuram flyover is just two pillars—that too half built.
The current waste generation in Bangalore is 3613 tonnes per day and the number is likely to grow in the next few years due to the increasing population and will present a formidable challenge to authorities unless an integrated approach is taken. Karnataka Compost Development Corporation handles 120 metric tonnes of raw garbage/day in the yard. Out of 100 tonnes of raw garbage, 55 tonnes of compost is obtained. Due to constraints of land, finance and demand, the facility can handle only 120 tonnes of wastes. As such out of the 369 markets in and around the city, only 2 have been accepted for composting.
5) Housing
Unorganized and inadequate housing plays a big role in the general inconveniences of living in the city. Especially when the distance between work and home is too much to put up with on a daily basis. Bad city planning is to blame in this situation. This inconvenience also directly contributes to the traffic problems as discussed above.
The gap between demand of good, suitable housing and the supply of it is what causes this imbalance that leaves Bangalorians struggling, especially among millennials. If people are not provided with good homes, things slow down, impacting productivity all around.
Good housing is a very underrated solution for tackling a lot of problems the city faces as a whole, and by its citizens individually. Find a good home close to work is still a dream for the majority. However, we have the perfect solution for this. (yourownroom.com)
Conclusion
Bangalore, despite its growing shortcomings, is still the beloved home to a lot of people. We need to work together to tackle these problems. To quote Jim Morrison, we need to “Save Our City”, and this can only be done by looking at these problems from all directions and implementing swift all round immediate actions. We owe it to future generations as we hand our city to them. Let’s work together and save the Garden City!
In the next few weeks, I will be detailing out each of these points, making a plea to the government, citizens and corporates to play a responsible part in the development of the city for the years to come. Stay tuned for more on these sensitive topics that determine our lifestyle and standard of living in Bangalore.
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