JOIN USPipeline work causes gridlock
Bumper-to-bumper traffic on Hosur Road from Koramangala Check Post to Dairy Circle may linger at least for three more weeks, for the pipeline-laying work is unlikely to finish in 20 days.
Though the traffic police had alerted the people about the BWSSB work, commuters were ill-prepared to face such a situation, resulting in absolute chaos and forcing many schoolchildren and office-goers to walk from Dairy Circle. Many students of Hombegowda Girls High School have their monthly tests. Most of them couldn’t reach their school on time on Tuesday.
“We have to walk from the Koramangala Water Tank to our school at Wilson Garden. The traffic is really bad. We are sure to miss our tests,”said Supriya, a student.
Many heading for nearby hospitals were not aware of the traffic diversion. They were asked to walk to a different bus-stop to reach their destinations.
Although the traffic department had made special arrangements for ambulances to reach hospitals on the stretch, many vehicles were stuck in the slow-moving traffic. The Traffic Police had given the green signal to the BWSSB to go ahead with the pipeline replacement work, which had been pending for the past two years.
Cast iron water pipelines, as old as 40-50 years, are now being replaced with mild steel pipes up to stretches of 700 metres and 375 metres near Dairy Circle signal at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore.
“Residents in the Laksandra and Wilson Garden areas have been complaining about poor water supply since long. Moreover, old pipelines had cracks and there was constant water leakage. Hence, we took up this work now,” said Ravindra Kumar, BWSSB Assistant Executive Engineer.
Despite informing other civic agencies about the work near Nimhans junction, due to the lack of coordination among the agencies, a Bescom line was accidentally removed by an excavator. The line was disconnected on Monday morning.
Bescom, however, provided alternate power supply to the damaged lines immediately.
A BWSSB personnel explained: “We had informed all the civic agencies about our work, but Bescom did not inform us about their existing lines. Hence, the line was pulled out.”