Tedious water pipeline work in Dasarahalli irks people

The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) dug up roads in MHR, MEI, Kirloskar and AGB layouts in Dasarahalli to lay water pipelines around nine months ago and forgot to restore them, hassling motorists and pedestrians. 

The BWSSB is laying pipelines to supply Cauvery water to 110 villages in phases and as part of the third package, Rs 296.38 crore has been allocated for the project in Dasarahalli and RR Nagar. 

But the residents here are irked by the slow progress of the project. They had raised the issue at ‘Janaspandana-Citizens for Change’ on September 1, a civic grievance redress programme organised by Deccan Herald and Prajavani. BWSSB officials and the local corporators had promised to get the road restored at the earliest. It's been two months since the assurance was given, the work is still progressing at a snail's pace. 

Santosh Kumar, from AGB Layout, said, “Dust, damaged roads, and potholes are what mark roads in Dasarahalli. The floating dust makes walking through these stretches a challenge. For the past ten months, the BWSSB has been laying the pipeline. I wonder why they require so much time to finish the work?” 

Govindaraju, a member of MHR Layout residents welfare association, said, "There has to be some coordination and accountability on the part of the civic agencies to finish the work soon. Water scarcity is the biggest problem in this area, but the way BWSSB is working becomes the problem.” 

A  senior BWSSB official said, “BWSSB started laying water pipelines across 2,600 km in 110 villages in April 2017. We propose to complete the work by May 2019 and have already finished about 80% of the work. Repairing the roads will follow once the work is fully completed.” 

Dasarahalli MLA, R Manjunath, was not available for comment.