Thirst buster gift for New Year

Feeder lines laid in Sir MV Layout for Cauvery water

 Over 2,000 residents of Sir M Vivesvaraya Layout at Ullal ward in Kengeri are likely to receive Cauvery water as the New Year gift. Having been denied the facility ever since the BDA formed the layout in 2003, the residents have been buying water from tankers.

Since Kengeri was part of the old City Municipal Council, there were no existing water lines in the region. The BWSSB planned to draw a water line from the ground-level reservoir (GLR) near Beggars’ Colony and supply Cauvery water to Visvesvaraya Layout. 

However, the board, which had almost completed the work on feeder line, had to face a legal hurdle as a corporator refused to part with his land acquired by the BDA to lay the pipelines.

A BWSSB official said that they had to lay 150-metre lines on the land that belonged to the corporator. The elected representative dragged the BDA to court and sought better compensation. The verdict favoured the BDA. Last week, work on laying the feeder lines was completed under police protection.

The official said that the BWSSB is now planning to construct three GLRs, each of 11.5 million litres, in the layout and will draw water from the GLR near the Beggars’ Colony. 

On a temporary basis, an interlink loop has been laid to draw water. Once the construction of the GLR is completed, this line will be disconnected. If water supply testing is completed, Cauvery water must reach the residents by January 2014, the official said.

D S Gowda, president of Sir M Visvesvaraya Layout Site Allottees’ and Residents’ Association, said: “Although the BDA allotted the sites in 2003, there were absolutely no facilities available in the layout. The first person who constructed a house here used solar lighting, until power supply was provided in 2008. 

It was only in 2009 that the BWSSB started laying the pipeline network in the layout.As per Section 30 and 31 of the Bangalore Development Act, 1976, the BDA should not sell or dispose of sites that do not have basic amenities. 

Undertaking

However, at Sir M V Layout, the BDA asked the allottees to give an undertaking in the form of a ‘bond’ to get their plan sanctioned, that they will not demand water or sewage facilities.

 Since the allottees were in a hurry to construct houses, they signed the bond. However, a BDA official claimed that basic amenities to the layout were delayed due to legal hurdles.

In the absence of sewage lines, residents have been discharging waste water into the nearby ‘raja kaluve’ or into the soak pits. Due to this indiscriminate discharge, the groundwater has been contaminated, denying residents the option to use borewells.