3 % indicated that it lasted for a week, 2/3rds indicated blockage in the sewerage,
12 % indicated flow of water into their houses, lower income households and slums
faced flooding caused by blocked drains. All households suffered damage to assets,
loss of working days. These were people who were mostly daily wage labour or
petty businessmen affecting their household economy.
2.3 Safety at Stake
Bengaluru stands low on the Walkability Index
3 (WI), an indicator that tells us how
walker friendly a city is. It scores WI score of 46 out of 100 as per the research
conducted by Clean Air Initiative in Asia has found that Bengaluru is among the
four cities where roads and pavements are not pedestrian friendly. Many pavements
are shrinking while some vanishing, many are encroached by hawkers and shopkeepers. Skywalks constructed are not user friendly as they do not have lifts and are
not user friendly to senior citizens and physically challenged. Thus, safety of citizens is more at risk as flooding aggravates it. There are several instances of
fatalities as people have got washed away in open storm water drains, causing
anguish and fear among citizens during rainy days, particularly elderly. Such
instances were never experienced in Bengaluru prior to 2000. Newspapers have
captured painful stories of a three member family travelling in a car being washed
away in an open drain in JP Nagar in Feb 2002, two-year-old boy on SJP road in
2002, 67-year-old merchant in VV Puram, Newly married couple at Prakash Nagar,
in October 2003, three year old at Guddadahalli in April 2011, nine year girl in Oct
2014 in Bilekahalli and 12-year-old child drowned falling into an uncovered pit
filled with rainwater in the vicinity of Government Arts and Science College.
2.4 Flooding Affects Toilet Access for the Urban Poor
Providing slums with access to toilet, construction of toilets by itself does not ensure
a positive usage. In fact, toilet usage is determined by several factors like space,
lighting, water facilities, etc. During floods, people accessing public toilets/
community toilets/shared toilets gets complicated, women, elderly and children
suffer acutely during such times. Besides, already prevailing poor quality of toilets
gets messier making it impossible to use them. Blockage and overflowing of drainage lines becomes worse and frequent during instances of flooding. In the case of
pit latrines, pit collapsing and overflowing are common problems encountered
(Manasi et al. 2015).
3
Walkability Indix measures several factors—easy and safe access to mass transit and other public
transport modes, good and continuous footpaths, easily crossable roads, disabled friendly pavements with ramps and absence of obstructions like trees, electricity poles and street hawkers.
456
S. Manasi and N. Jamwal
12 % indicated flow of water into their houses, lower income households and slums
faced flooding caused by blocked drains. All households suffered damage to assets,
loss of working days. These were people who were mostly daily wage labour or
petty businessmen affecting their household economy.
2.3 Safety at Stake
Bengaluru stands low on the Walkability Index
3 (WI), an indicator that tells us how
walker friendly a city is. It scores WI score of 46 out of 100 as per the research
conducted by Clean Air Initiative in Asia has found that Bengaluru is among the
four cities where roads and pavements are not pedestrian friendly. Many pavements
are shrinking while some vanishing, many are encroached by hawkers and shopkeepers. Skywalks constructed are not user friendly as they do not have lifts and are
not user friendly to senior citizens and physically challenged. Thus, safety of citizens is more at risk as flooding aggravates it. There are several instances of
fatalities as people have got washed away in open storm water drains, causing
anguish and fear among citizens during rainy days, particularly elderly. Such
instances were never experienced in Bengaluru prior to 2000. Newspapers have
captured painful stories of a three member family travelling in a car being washed
away in an open drain in JP Nagar in Feb 2002, two-year-old boy on SJP road in
2002, 67-year-old merchant in VV Puram, Newly married couple at Prakash Nagar,
in October 2003, three year old at Guddadahalli in April 2011, nine year girl in Oct
2014 in Bilekahalli and 12-year-old child drowned falling into an uncovered pit
filled with rainwater in the vicinity of Government Arts and Science College.
2.4 Flooding Affects Toilet Access for the Urban Poor
Providing slums with access to toilet, construction of toilets by itself does not ensure
a positive usage. In fact, toilet usage is determined by several factors like space,
lighting, water facilities, etc. During floods, people accessing public toilets/
community toilets/shared toilets gets complicated, women, elderly and children
suffer acutely during such times. Besides, already prevailing poor quality of toilets
gets messier making it impossible to use them. Blockage and overflowing of drainage lines becomes worse and frequent during instances of flooding. In the case of
pit latrines, pit collapsing and overflowing are common problems encountered
(Manasi et al. 2015).
3
Walkability Indix measures several factors—easy and safe access to mass transit and other public
transport modes, good and continuous footpaths, easily crossable roads, disabled friendly pavements with ramps and absence of obstructions like trees, electricity poles and street hawkers.
456
S. Manasi and N. Jamwal