Heavy rain has led to flooding in several parts of Bengaluru. ANI
As visuals of a waterlogged Bengaluru play out on television screens, Telangana Minister KT Rama Rao has sent out a message to those mocking the IT hub and said "no Indian city is immune to disastrous consequences of climate change".
The minister, popularly known as KTR, has called upon Union Minister for Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri to plan bold reforms in urban planning and governance to tackle challenges of rapid urbanisation.
"To all those who are mocking the water-logged Bengaluru: Our cities are our primary economic engines driving the States'/Country's growth With rapid urbanisation & sub-urbanisation, infrastructure is bound to crumble as we haven't infused enough capital into upgrading the same," tweeted the Telangana minister and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao's son.
"No Indian city (including my state's capital city) today is immune to the disastrous consequences of climate change. If India has to continue to grow, we need well-laid, concerted capital allocations of Union & State Govts combined into radical improvement in infrastructure," he added.
Calling for radical steps to address these issues, he said, "We need bold reforms in urban planning & governance. Get away from conservative mindset & thing radical. Clean Roads, Clean Water, Clean Air & Better Storm water management systems are not hard to build."
He said "some Bengaluru leaders" have "taunted" Hyderabad residents over similar situations in the past, but added that there is a need to "learn from each others' experiences and show the might of collective will".
"I am aware that some of friends in Hyderabad will not like what I said. Because in the past, we were taunted by some Bengaluru leaders in similar situations. But if we have to grow as a nation, we need to learn from each others' experiences & show the might of collective will," he tweeted.
The remarks come after heavy rain led to flooding in several parts of Bengaluru and brought normal life to a standstill. Traffic jams kilometres-long were reported and boats had to be deployed to supply essential items to residents.