BENGALURU: Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has completed its massive task of replacing old, corroded pipelines in areas like Jayamahal, Ramaswamy Palya, Ulsoor and Benson Town in the Shivajinagar assembly constituency. As per officials, these old pipes were damaged and corroded and accounted for 38% of water leakage. By fixing the issue, the board claims it will be saving Rs 1.32crore a month. That apart, the issue of irregular water supply and contamination is also addressed.
As per Dalayat BS, Principal Engineer, BWSSB, over 25km of pipelines were replaced using funds under Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation-2. The Board spent around Rs 20 crore and will take up restoration of roads wherever the project is completed. “The board will conduct a test to check the uniformity of supply,” he said.
Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad credited the work to officials and also cooperation from residents to bear with inconvenience for 8 to 10 months. “The pipes in Benson Town and surrounding areas were installed during the British rule. In many areas, the pipelines are over 40 years old. Due to leaks and contamination, there was a health concern as well as loss of water and revenue. All these have been addressed,” he said.
Complaints about water leaks, old pipes, on and off contamination and damaged roads remained unsolved or at times elicited only knee-jerk reactions. They now hope the issues will not resurface for the next 25 to 30 years. “We escalated the issue in the past. No elected representative was interested in addressing the problem faced by residents of Vasanth Nagar. From past eight months, work is going on, some old pipelines were replaced and in some places, work is gaining pace,” said Archana Singh, a local resident.
The biggest challenge was in Ulsoor, due to narrow lanes and existing utilities. However, officials changed the pipeline in the entire ward and begun asphalt work. “We have been complaining for past 15 years about water leakage, contamination and other issues. Now everything has happened at once. Hope officials fix the footpath, and asphalt the road without delay,” said Umesh Vasudevan, an Ulsoor resident.
