Guest Column

How Heavy Rain Washed Away Bhubaneswar’s Fallacies Of A Smart City

By
Piyush Rout

The record rainfall in the last more than 48 hours has exposed Bhubaneswar’s shortcomings in its preparedness. It happens every year and it happened this year too. The sun will shine brightly soon, there will be a nip in the air and like every year, the city’s resilient people will forget the vagaries they suffered when their houses got deluged and when they had to wade through knee-deep water.

A few feel-good messages on social media and carefully crafted words to pacify the people will soon make this a distant memory – till the next monsoon.

However, it is high time that the government sat down to do some serious thinking to prevent this from happening year after year. It is not enough to sit on laurels because the city’s demands are increasing by the day but the civic amenities have not been in tandem.

First and foremost, the city’s natural sponges have been lost owing to the mushrooming of concrete structures as a result of bad urban planning. Both sides of the Daya Canal, which once acted like sponges are now lost to constructions, filth and neglect. The canal should be developed and linked to the natural drains in Bhubaneswar through a ring system to prevent the submergence of low-lying areas in the city.

We must also factor in bad and outdated engineering that does not take into consideration climate change. For example, the city no longer gets 200 days of rainfall in a year. The number has reduced to less than 90 days but the amount of rainfall remains the same or more. Very recently, 200mm of rainfall in 30 hours is an example of how unprepared Bhubaneswar is. It is time for the city’s drainage system to be redesigned and remodelled as per new dimensions of rainfall patterns than outdated models. As more heavy rains in a short duration are in store.

A lot of the chaos this week could have been avoided with some good administrative steps. Even though the city has India’s largest command centre under SMART City Mission, no proactive measures were taken to divert the traffic in the worst affected areas.

It is indeed astounding that such a large city neither has an elected Mayor nor a full-time Municipal Councillor to monitor such situations. The onus of taking care of the city’s civic amenities also rests with the state government. Much of the good work it has done on other fronts can get washed out if people remain disgruntled at the ground level.

Hopefully, after the last 48 hours of marathon water logging incidents, people and the government will stop comparing the city with Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam etc. Let us shift the focus from a Smart City to just a city.

Bhubaneswar will host the Hockey World Cup once again in a couple of months. Let us be prepared to showcase our best side to our foreign guests. 

The truth is that no Indian city is fully equipped with urban water management. But Bhubaneswar is better equipped to deal with urban water management. Let this not be an excuse rather an opportunity to plan, execute and build a better Bhubaneswar.

Piyush Rout

Urban Planner

Recent Posts

Bangladeshi Girl ‘Trafficking’ Case In Odisha: Couple Arrested For Forcing Her Into Prostitution

Cuttack: After rescuing a minor Bangladeshi girl, Madhupatna Police in Odisha’s Cuttack city have arrested…

November 25, 2024

2nd Maharashtra Tigress Zeenat Released Into Core Area Of Similipal In Odisha

Baripada: Ten days after being put in a soft enclosure inside Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR)…

November 25, 2024

Odisha GDP Suspends Jonk Police Station IIC For Dereliction Of Duty

Nuapada: Inspector In-Charge (IIC) of Jonk police station in Odisha’s Nuapada district, Gurudev Karmi, has…

November 25, 2024

IPL Auction: KKR Break Bank For Venkatesh On Lucrative Day For Indian Players; Check Top Buys

Mumbai: The first day of the IPL mega player auction at Jeddah threw up several…

November 24, 2024

Odisha Govt Hands Over Case Of Attack On Dharmasala MLA To Crime Branch

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has handed over the investigation into the attack on Dhramasala MLA…

November 24, 2024

Commissionerate Police Issues Traffic Advisory During Winter Session Of Odisha Assembly; Details Here

Bhubaneswar: The Commissionerate of Police on Sunday issued an advisory for movement of vehicular traffic…

November 24, 2024

Elon Musk Proposal: Fire US Federal Employees Who Want To Work From Home

New York: Now that President-elect Donald Trump has tasked Elon Musk with the responsibility of co-heading…

November 24, 2024

Odisha Govt Warns Of Stern Action For Renting Out Its Quarters

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has warned its employees of stern action for sub-letting their allotted…

November 24, 2024