BENGALURU: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which had claimed it is struggling financially and making efforts to shape up, has begun sending notices to 383 homes and apartment complexes over unauthorised water connections, and urged them to get the connections regularised by paying fees along with penalties.
Board Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar said untreated water from apartments is a big challenge to the board, so they have imposed penalties ranging from a few lakhs to Rs 1crore, depending on the size of the complex. “By regularizing these connections and imposing penalties, BWSSB is hoping to generate Rs 200 crore in revenue,” he said, adding that since the past 15 days, BWSSB is disconnecting services, and in the next 15 days, the process of regularization will be taken up.
The chairman also stated that the BWSSB team used Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) connection data and probed unauthorized BWSSB connections.
So far, it has recorded 43,000 such connections across Bengaluru, and officials are following up cases to ensure owners get their connections regularized.
A senior official from the BWSSB waste water management said the crackdown on large apartment complexes is to ensure that untreated water comes into the BWSSB’s record so plans can be made to ensure contaminated water is treated before it reaches storm water drains and lakes.