‘Bring the public into public infrastructure’
NARESH V. NARASIMHAN, 60 Principal Architect, VA
Narasimhan wears many hats—architect, entrepreneur, urbanist and activist. Having grown up in Bengaluru, he has decided to actively engage in solving the city’s woes. Among them was the dismal state of major storm drains, or rajakaluves. Over the years, silt has reduced their flow capacity by a third, and garbage dumped into these drains as well as sewage and illegally released industrial effluents have compounded the problem. Come rain and the drains overflow. Two years ago, Narasimhan got MOD, a non-profit that he co-founded, to collaborate with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and map out the contours of one of the worst maintained stormwater drains. Originating in
Majestic, the city centre, it flowed into the Bellanduru Lake in the Koramangala Valley 12 km away, with a watershed of 32 sq. km and accounting for 12 per cent of the city’s rainwater run-off. Inspired by an example from Seoul city, BBMP, with the help of MOD, got down to restoring K-100, as it was named. That included removing 900 truckloads of silt, in addition to reworking the piped drainage system. The project cost Rs 150 crore. With the gradient restored, stormwater began to flow freely; during the recent floods, there was no overflow in the surrounding areas. “This is an example of how we can move from a grey to a green infrastructure,” says Narasimhan. “And also of how we must bring the public into public infrastructure.”