Bengaluru Rains: Mohandas Pai On How Startups Can Help Solve City’s Infra Woes

Heavy rains and water logging in parts of India’s Silicon Valley — Bengaluru disrupted daily lives and operations of companies and startups earlier this week. The city received 370 mm of rainfall in August, this year, the highest since August 1998.

In fact, the city has received above-average rainfall this monsoon season. Bengaluru has received 769 mm of rain since June 1, 2022, significantly more than the average of 425 mm. As the latest flooding in the country’s tech capital affected many areas where IT companies and startups are located, the authorities in Karnataka’s capital and the state government received a lot of flak.

Angry citizens took to social media platforms to vent their ire and raise questions on the infrastructure of the city. Many also asked if the water logging and disruption of business would lead to tech companies and startups moving away from the city. Many prominent faces from the startup ecosystem, including Unacademy CEO Gaurav Munjal, Sequoia’s Ishaan Mittal, and Aarin Capital partner and former Infosys CFO T.V. Mohandas Pai, also shared their experience and raised questions on the way the city is being run.

Bengaluru is the third-largest startup ecosystem in the world. Led by Bengaluru-based startups and investors, the Indian startup ecosystem recently played a pivotal role in fighting Covid-19. The Action Covid-19 Team (ACT) raised over INR 464 Cr, and besides disbursing INR 64 Cr among 55+ startups which worked on Covid, it also collaborated with 70+ NGO, delivered 50K+ critical oxygen equipment and commissioned over 176K+ Covid care kits.

The flooding in Bengaluru has also led to questions about how the city’s startup ecosystem, with its technological and innovative capabilities, and a record of getting things done in a short duration, can help in tackling the issues related to excessive rainfall, water logging, among others.

In fact, Karnataka’s Information and Technology Minister Dr. Ashwath Narayan C.N. earlier this week held a meeting with tech giants and industry leaders to discuss the steps to be taken to address the water logging and traffic-related issues.

Inc42 Spoke to Pai, who has been very outspoken on the issue, to understand how Bengaluru startups can help in solving water logging and other problems in the city in the short and long-run. Here are his suggestions:

Form A Task Force: Map The City In Real Time

Startups or entrepreneurs can form a group and with the help of drones, satellite imagery and other maps that are digitally available can map the entire city in real-time, Pai said.

“With this, key flooding areas or areas where there’s heavy traffic could easily be identified in real-time. They, thus, need to map the entire area and check up the water levels and suggest where the drains have to be built and expanded,” he said.

This will help in identifying the worst hit areas and may also help identify the possible scenario in advance and hence will allow the city administration to take countermeasures even before they occur.

Simulate Rainfall

Pai believes that AI and deeptech can help immensely in understanding how different intensities of rainfall will affect the city.

“They must simulate rainfall of various intensities, which is easy to do, and see what happens, what will be the impact and what should be the drain capacity. They should work with the government to tell them and show them very clearly the possible situations when there’s a heavy rainfall like once in 100 years,” he said

This will help in improving the city’s capability to handle such situations and take measures to minimise risk and damages. For instance, Last week’s rainfall in Bengaluru saw over 20K vehicles and 2,000 houses getting damaged, and impacting over 10K people in the city.

A simulation would help the city administration understand the situation better, he added.

Tackling The Infamous Bengaluru Traffic

Bengaluru is known for its slow-moving traffic, and there is a need to take a fresh approach to tackle the issue.

Pai suggests that the group of startups or entrepreneurs should map the entire outer ring road kilometre-by-kilometre based on satellite photographs and drone photography to suggest measures to improve the roads.

“They can model it to make sure what should be done to relieve the congestion by 25-30%… They should form a small group with the best brains to work and to show they can give a good proposal to the government,” the former Infosys CFO said.

Attitude Of Citizens And Govts Must Change

Pai also highlighted the existing gap between the citizens and the state governments in general. “In this country, there is a big gap between citizens and governments. Citizens think they just have to vote once every five years. They pay some taxes and it is the government that has to do everything. This needs to change.”

“Similarly, governments think that they are the rulers of the state and they can do whatever they want, and nobody should question them. So there’s a problem,” Pai said.

The business leader said that there is a need for the citizens and the government to work together to solve the problems. He urged the citizens to spend some time for their city, and meet their MLAs, MPs, and other representatives to discuss the problems and find solutions.

On the other hand, the government should see this as part of citizens’ consultation, and use their expertise to help improve the city, he added.

“Both sides have to work together. We are a representative democracy. The people who rule over us are our representatives. They will have to listen to us and engage with us. They are not our owners or ‘maalik’,” Pai concluded.