BBMP drills borewell in middle of new road

Days after being rapped by the high court over the poor maintenance of roads, the BBMP has chosen to dig a borewell right in the middle of a road, ostensibly to provide water to “the residents” in the area.

Thursday morning brought a shocker to residents of Vinayak Nagar of Ward 113 in HAL limits when a borewell truck began drilling in the middle of the road.

Anxious residents who took the pain to know the reason for this destruction were told to ‘shut up’ by the local corporator.

“We were wondering as to who would permit to dig a borewell on a newly laid road. Some residents reached out to the corporator expressing their concern only to be told that it was in the interest of the residents in the area,” a resident on condition of anonymity told DH.

Another resident said if the BBMP was taking up a project for the benefit of the public, at least some of the residents should have been consulted.

“There is no issue with water supply in the area, and we never asked for a public borewell. If the BBMP wanted to serve us, they should have at least asked us about it,” the resident said.

The residents demanded to know whether it was in line with the rules to sanction drilling of a borewell in the middle of the road.

“The very idea of such a project is absurd. It not only obstructs traffic but causes inconvenience to all road users,” he rued.

‘BJP workers oppose’

However, the project took an interesting political turn when DH spoke to corporator M Chandrappa Reddy.

He said those opposing the borewell were not the residents, but supporters of the BJP.

“It was close to one and a half months since the locality got water and we drilled the borewell to supply water to the residents. We have taken permission from BBMP officials,” said Reddy. “We are testing if we could get water here. Once the borewell work is done, we will cover the place with cement,” he added.

Meanwhile, Prasanna, assistant executive engineer, also said that the permission was granted to dig the borewell.

“This place was chosen because if we go too near to the house, the foundation would be affected,” he said.

“We have dug up to six to eight inches. It will not harm the road as we will restore it. We have also taken the help of geologists to find the best spot to locate water,” Prasanna added.