JOIN US The BWSSB’s unaccounted-for water (UFW) project, aimed at controlling water leakages in the City, has gone awry in Bangalore South division covering Jayanagar, JP Nagar, Banashankari and surrounding areas, as residents are facing innumerable problems due to delays and substandard work.
The project involves replacing ageing and corroded water lines with new ones and, where necessary, fix new water meters in place of old ones.
At a recent grievance meeting held with the Board officials and Larsen & Toubro, the company executing the work, residents poured out their woes about the ongoing project.
K V Bhaskar Murthy, president, Federation of Jayanagar Resident’s Associations, said neither the BWSSB nor L&T had taken responsibility for the manner in which the work was being carried out. “First and foremost, nobody informed the residents about the project. Roads were dug and granite stones bridging houses to the road have been removed. Random digging and substandard restoration of roads have left the roads in a very bad shape,” he said, adding that there was no one to answer calls.
P V Ravishankar, president, JP Nagar Citizen’s and Cultural Association, said that at the time of commencement and during the progress of work, there had been absolutely no supervision from L&T or the BWSSB. “Work is portioned to the contractor and he restricts his work to the assigned area and turns a deaf ear to related problems.
There is no co-ordination between contractors and sub-contractors,” he added. Ravishankar said that blue medium-density polyethylene (MDPE) pipelines used as a replacement for the existing ones are of poor quality and easily susceptible to damage.
Reacting, a BWSSB official said when roads are dug, it is natural that some inconvenience will be caused, but after the work is completed, the roads will be restored. With regard to any complaints, residents can approach the BWSSB, he added.
M M Jaiswal, Project Director, L&T, said that as the restoration work was carried out in patches, residents will feel the difference as there will be a bump when the patched roads are asphalted.
“We are yet to conduct hydro-testing of the newly laid pipelines. Once it is done, the pipelines will be fixed appropriately. We are using the best MDPE pipelines for the project,” he added.
Of the 85 district metering areas (DMA), work related to only 40 DMAs has been completed and leakage has been reduced from 48 to 25 per cent.