BENGALURU: The erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and now Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA), which went about chest-thumping over its Rs 179-crore K-100 waterway-cum-walkway project from Shantala Silks in Majestic to Koramangala in BTM assembly constituency, has instead delivered the longest cesspool, courtesy BWSSB.
Residents along the project route, covering 12km, are complaining about a stench and mosquito menace. The waterway project, that involved treated water flowing through, was to open in January 2025, but it’s already April 2026.
Bhaskar Babu, a wholesale flower dealer who has his shop adjacent to the waterway near BTS Road in Wilson Garden, said, “A bad smell emanates most of the time and mosquitoes starts buzzing early evening, and till the closing hours of the shop, we have to tolerate nasty bites.”
A Salma, a resident of Vinayak Nagar which is adjacent to the waterway, said there are aged persons at home with comorbidities, and the family is worried about infection, allergy, and mosquito-borne diseases. “The water channel has sewage flowing through. There is also garbage menace, with people throwing in waste and filth. The authorities must clean up the channel and arrest sewage inflow on priority.”
Engineers from the Stormwater Drain Department of GBA said an inspection was held on Thursday, and officials from Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) have asked GBA to give permission to cut open a white-topped road in SR Nagar to fix sewage flowing into the waterway.
“The K-100 project completion is in its end stage. Near Ejipura, the defence organisation was in possession of a drain and raised objections to civil works. Communication for cooperation was sent out from the GBA Chief Commissioner, and approval has also come. Work will start and will be completed in a few weeks,” said an engineer from the project implementation unit of GBA.
The official said that had BWSSB stopped sewage flow, the water channel would have remained pollution-free.
In response, BWSSB said the K-100 project is open only from the SP Road end, and from Chickpet to Majestic, the channel surface is covered, and there may be silt. “Apart from that, the 500-metre stretch from SR Nagar also has many house connections, and sewage may be entering the waterway. If we are allowed to cut at least the SR Nagar white-topped stretch, house connections releasing sewage can be fixed,” an official said.
Last week, GBA Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao inspected the waterway and directed officials to fix the issue of dirty water flowing into the water channel.
“The water channel was supposed to carry only treated water from STPs and rainwater, but at present, polluted water is flowing, defeating the purpose of the scenic walkway worth Rs 179 crore,” said a retired engineer.