Rain brings Delhi to its knees: Why is urban infrastructure crumbling? Experts weigh in

5 months ago

Heavy rains on Wednesday night and Thursday morning led to flooded roads and underpasses, exposing the inadequacy of drainage systems.

Transcript

00:00The national capital region, whether it's Delhi and Gurugram in particular,

00:04found itself once again on its knees after a spell of rains on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

00:09As heavy rains flooded roads and underpasses,

00:12the city's drainage system or the NCR's drainage system exposed yet again.

00:17Once again evident that urban infrastructure is barely holding up.

00:21Failed drainage systems, collapsing traffic,

00:23showing how despite crores being spent,

00:26smart cities being announced,

00:27monsoon preparedness remains patchy yet again.

00:31It just seems every year the same question has to be asked.

00:35Why are our metros crumbling?

00:37That's the question that we are going to raise on the show.

00:41Why is urban infrastructure crumbling?

00:43How do you make metros monsoon-proof?

00:45Why are the lessons not being learnt?

00:47Several people we are told have also died in the water logging in Gurgaon.

00:52Sudhir Krishna, former Secretary Ministry of Urban Development joins me.

00:55Dikshu Kukreja, Urban Planner joins me.

00:58Appreciate you're both joining us.

01:00Sudhir Krishna, let's start with Gurugram.

01:02Because in Gurugram, even the slightest bout of rain

01:04in the so-called millennium city results in complete chaos.

01:10What explains this?

01:11A so-called new city of 21st century India

01:14can't handle the rains, it appears.

01:20You're on mute, sir.

01:22You're on mute.

01:22Thank you, Rajdeep.

01:31It's a pleasure to be here.

01:33Thank you for inviting me.

01:34And the challenge is also very serious,

01:37not only for Gurugram,

01:38but for many other metros also,

01:40and even for tier 2 cities also.

01:42And I see the primary reason for this is inadequate vision,

01:49lack of vision about city's development.

01:52And the vision converted into actual approach

01:56is lack of regional planning.

01:59Regional planning is not there

02:00and we are doing incremental planning or localized planning,

02:03you know.

02:04You want to develop a structure.

02:05Gurugram, sir, Gurugram is a smart city.

02:07Gurugram has been designated a smart city.

02:09Gurugram has all the high per capita income dwellers there.

02:14When you say lack of planning,

02:17do you blame the state government, center?

02:19Who is responsible in your view?

02:21Is it the municipal, civic level authorities

02:23who simply don't do enough?

02:25It is like, you say,

02:26regional planning is a responsibility of the state government

02:29and of course the government of India.

02:31See, the problem has come in a complicated manner.

02:34That the regional development is a local subject.

02:37The government of India introduced the smart city mission

02:41and they pushed for it.

02:42It was localized effort.

02:44So the smart city means smart gadgets,

02:46smart applications and so on.

02:48But what the cities require,

02:50first and foremost is drainage planning.

02:52Water must flow out systematically.

02:55That doesn't require so much of smartness,

02:57you know.

02:57It requires more of a calm, cool planning

03:00for which we have to use smart,

03:02you know, initiatives like satellite imagery and so on.

03:05But do some good drainage planning.

03:07Every city must have a fundamental requirement

03:09for any city is drainage plan,

03:11which is missing.

03:12Therefore, the water logs here and there.

03:15That is one.

03:16And coupled with that weak local governance.

03:18You see, the Gupta Municipal Corporation

03:20is not the only body handling issues

03:23connected with the water flow.

03:25There is development authorities also there

03:26and GMDA and the Municipal Corporation

03:29and there are many other authorities

03:31also operating, handling the area, roads and the water.

03:34So therefore, multiplicity of authority

03:36is also a challenge.

03:37So these two are, to begin with,

03:39I will say there are other issues also

03:41of issues of that we will discuss.

03:43But you made a very important point.

03:45You have said multiplicity of authorities,

03:47the complete lack of focus on drainage.

03:49It's all very well to have smart cities,

03:52but you can't have smart cities

03:53which don't focus on drainage.

03:55Dikshu Kukreja, year after year,

03:57and this is probably the second or third year

03:59in a row you've come on the show,

04:01it simply seems to get worse.

04:03Last night, even an hour of rain

04:04was enough for complete water logging.

04:06It continued this morning as well.

04:08I've singled out Gurgaon,

04:10but look at Delhi itself,

04:11the national capital,

04:13unable to handle the kind of rain

04:16that perhaps Mumbai would treat as a normal day.

04:20Delhi just seems unable to handle

04:21even the slightest rainfall.

04:23Is there something seriously wrong with the system?

04:27Well, Rajdeep, first of all,

04:29let's both try and resolve that next monsoon,

04:32when you and I meet on this show,

04:34you know, the problems have been wished away

04:36and our cities are better.

04:38But on a serious note,

04:39I think, yes, it's a systemic problem, Rajdeep.

04:42And the problem here is that

04:44right from the way the master planning

04:47and the development of the city is done

04:49in a very ad hoc fashion,

04:51you know, unauthorized colonies

04:52are suddenly regularized.

04:54Well, fine, if they have to be regularized,

04:56but what about the infrastructure?

04:58They are not even having the capacities

04:59for which the habitation is there.

05:02And in the case of Gurgaon,

05:03if we stick to that,

05:04it's been a very sad state of affairs.

05:06When we talk about multiplicity of authorities

05:08in Gurgaon, MCF, GMDA, Huda, et cetera,

05:12why couldn't we learn from the instance of Delhi?

05:15Delhi, we have perennially had this problem

05:17of multiplicity of authorities.

05:19And here we go about repeating

05:20the same mistake year after year

05:23and in city after city.

05:24As far as the aspect of topography is concerned,

05:27the soil strata is concerned.

05:30All these scientific aspects are completely ignored.

05:33So in Gurgaon, whether you look at

05:34how the Batshapur drain has been completely savaged

05:37and now there is no proper drain network there.

05:41If you look at Gulf Coast Road

05:42or you look at the Southern Peripheral Road,

05:45Cyber City, another instance,

05:46yes, it might have glitzy buildings,

05:48but that's all it has, I guess,

05:50because it's completely impervious.

05:52When it rains,

05:53there's no percolation of water into the soil.

05:55So you see this kind of a situation.

05:58But is it because, Dinesh,

06:00they are not taken care of it.

06:02Is it because, Dinesh,

06:03that here is a city which, as I said,

06:05was a 21st century.

06:06If you went to Gurgaon,

06:07even in the 1990s,

06:09much of it was very rural.

06:11You build on farmlands,

06:13you build these multi-story skyscrapers,

06:15but you don't focus on

06:19where is the water going to move

06:21into those traditional water outlets.

06:23You are building on some of those water outlets.

06:27Is this, therefore, a man-made tragedy

06:29above all else in cities like Gurugram

06:31and in many other cities across the country?

06:33We are seeing it in Bengaluru.

06:34We are seeing it in parts of Mumbai.

06:36You are building over water bodies,

06:37lakes in Bengaluru,

06:39your marshlands in Mumbai,

06:40and that really is causing havoc.

06:44And add to that,

06:45Chennai, Pune, and many, many more.

06:47Yes, it's absolutely that.

06:49It's not a holistic planning,

06:51particularly in the case of Gurgaon.

06:53If you see, you know,

06:54just land allotments have been done sporadically

06:57without a comprehensive master plan.

06:59So suddenly you see these high-rise buildings

07:01next to plotted development

07:02or next to just shanties

07:05and slum developments

07:07because everything's just come up

07:09in a sporadic manner.

07:10And as far as the infrastructure goes,

07:13for example,

07:13if we talk just about the rainwater

07:15or stormwater management,

07:17there should be a system

07:18that within these so-called islands

07:20of, you know, excellence

07:21or that have been made,

07:23why is water management not happening

07:25at first that micro level

07:27and then at a city macro level?

07:30There needs to be a master plan

07:31which integrates blue and green.

07:34That's what's happened world over.

07:36That's how cities work.

07:37When I say blue and green,

07:38I mean that the water network of a city,

07:41whether it's the water supply system

07:43or the stormwater runoff system,

07:45it has to be comprehensively integrated

07:47into the master plan.

07:48And greens,

07:49unless you have soft areas,

07:51soft surfaces in a city,

07:53you can't go about concretizing everything.

07:55So is it too late?

07:56And if you do that,

07:56where will the water go?

07:57Is it too late?

07:57Is it too late according to you, Dixu?

08:00Well, Rajneet,

08:02I'm a perennial optimist.

08:03I would never say it's too late.

08:05Yes, it's unfortunate

08:06because here we position Gurgaon,

08:08as you said,

08:09a smart city

08:09and, you know,

08:10the golden goose for Haryana.

08:12Here we position India

08:14aimed to becoming a Viksit Bharat.

08:16This is not the way we can get there.

08:18So yet I would say it's not too late.

08:20Like I said,

08:21strategies can be brought into place.

08:23Let's have a more unified authority

08:25when it comes to infrastructure

08:26development of Gurugram.

08:28Let's have a blue and green map

08:30and planning integrated

08:31into the master plan of Gurugram.

08:34Let's have all these low-lying areas,

08:38nanas,

08:39the paleo channels of water

08:40that were there,

08:41which have been just recklessly covered.

08:43Let's do a scientific evidence,

08:45a scientific research

08:46of seeing how the lay of the water

08:48is now when it rains.

08:50And all this can be repaired.

08:52All this can be improved.

08:54But there has to be,

08:55rather than political bickering,

08:57rather than transferring the blame

08:58from one authority to another,

09:00one party to another,

09:01there needs to be consensus.

09:02And one last point, Rajdeep,

09:04if we really want to fix it genuinely,

09:06let's get out of this culture

09:08of selecting people,

09:10technical experts

09:11or construction agencies

09:13on the lowest tender basis.

09:16I think this is the saddest thing

09:17that's happening in India

09:18at the moment.

09:19We think we are saving money,

09:20but the images on your screen

09:22tell us how much money

09:24and capital is getting

09:25and human capital

09:27is getting wasted

09:27by these disasters

09:28year after year.

09:30So we need to get into a system

09:31like the world over.

09:32They select the best

09:33technical consultants.

09:34They don't go just

09:35by the lowest fee.

09:36They select the best contractors.

09:38They don't go just by the lowest fee.

09:40So let's fix it now.

09:42Let me therefore ask Sudhir Krishna

09:43in conclusion,

09:44Mr. Krishna,

09:45do you believe

09:45that there is a willingness

09:47to fix it

09:48or is it too late?

09:49Because as you said,

09:50multiplicity of authorities,

09:51no one is willing to give up

09:52their limited powers,

09:53whether multiplicity of authorities

09:55in Mumbai,

09:56Delhi,

09:56any city of this country.

09:58Do you need,

09:59every city needs

10:00an empowered authority

10:01that specifically deals

10:03with these issues

10:04like drainage,

10:05for example,

10:06unless you have an authority

10:07which is fully empowered

10:08and is therefore accountable,

10:10nothing is going to change?

10:12Yes.

10:13We need an authority

10:14which is fully empowered

10:15but it has to be

10:16a representative body.

10:17It has to be

10:18a representative body

10:19because a singular authority

10:20like if you make

10:21the development authority,

10:23Gurgaon Metropolitan

10:23Development Authority

10:24as the authority

10:25and we think that

10:26the chief executive officer

10:28can handle everything

10:29singularly very well,

10:30I don't think

10:31it is going to happen.

10:32It has to be

10:33a representative body

10:34and that,

10:35see,

10:35our country is different.

10:36Other countries

10:37also have similar models.

10:38Regional authorities

10:39are there

10:39but I mean,

10:40I would like to ignore that

10:41and create our own model.

10:43We should have,

10:44just like municipality,

10:45we should have

10:45a representative

10:46regional authority.

10:49So,

10:49what is happening

10:49in our country,

10:51Delhi is also an example,

10:52so is Mumbai,

10:53MMRDA,

10:54so is the GMD.

10:56That,

10:56you know,

10:56they are doing

10:57planning and development both.

10:59You see,

10:59the authority

11:00is doing planning

11:00and development

11:01so the development

11:02takes,

11:02overtakes,

11:03you know,

11:03they become developer.

11:04Development authority

11:05becomes developer also.

11:06That is a very big challenge

11:07and planning goes in background.

11:09Sometimes they violate,

11:11see,

11:11DDA developed

11:12on the Yamuna flood plain,

11:14they allowed

11:14and they developed also,

11:16construction activities

11:17happened on the Yamuna flood plain

11:18by the DDA itself

11:19because they became

11:20developer come planner

11:21and therefore,

11:22you know,

11:23money becomes so attractive.

11:24So,

11:24these are the governance challenges

11:25are there.

11:26We have to have,

11:27you know,

11:27the constitution

11:28and metropolitan planning.

11:31You make very,

11:32very solid points,

11:33both of you.

11:34I hope someone out there

11:35once again is listening.

11:36You can't have smart cities,

11:38first of all,

11:38without smart planning

11:40and smart planning

11:41involves a complete revamp

11:43of the way urban governance

11:45is done in this country.

11:46But does anyone

11:47really have the time

11:48and energy

11:49and effort

11:50to do that?

11:51These are the questions

11:52that those in power

11:53across this country

11:54must ask themselves.

11:55For now,

11:56for my guests

11:56for joining me

11:57on this vital issue

11:58of public concern,

11:59thank you very much.

Rain brings Delhi to its knees: Why is urban infrastructure crumbling? Experts weigh in

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