Home to three lakes but none slakes thirst

Sir MV Layout lacks drinking water even 10 years of its formation

“Water, water, everywhere and not a drop to drink...,” from Samuel Taylor Coleridges’ poem ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ aptly describes the state of 13,159 site owners in Sir M Visvesvaraya Layout in Ullal, near Kengeri.

Though the Layout is located close to Malathalli Lake, Ullal Lake and Hosakere Lake, residents of the layout cannot use water from them either for drinking or domestic purposes.

Unlike other residential layouts in the City, residents have been able to tap water at a mere 350 ft deep by drilling borewells. But the groundwater is not fit for either drinking or cooking.

Though the Bangalore Development Authority formed the layout in 2002-2003, to this day its residents have not been able to access clean drinking water.

“It is the BDA’s responsibility to provide basic amenities to residents in the layout. Even after ten years, we have failed to get drinking water and are thus forced to resort to drilling borewells,” said residents of Sir M Visvesvaraya Layout.

Added to this the groundwater in the area is contaminated and to make matters worse several residents have linked their sewage lines to stormwater drain, they added.

As the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has failed to pay the BDA, it has stalled the work to lay the drinking water pipeline in the layout.

 “The layout was to get water under the Cauvery IV Stage, II Phase. It is only after the BDA deposited the amount with the BWSSB, the work to lay drinking water pipeline began. With a legal problem now surfacing regarding the land, the work has come to a standstill,” said a few residents.

An office-bearer of a Residents’ Welfare Association said the land on which the pipe was to be laid belonged to the Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) which objected to the work, as the BDA had neither paid them any compensation nor Transferable Development Rights (TDR).

The problem, however, was later resolved with the BDA issuing a letter to the BEL. Even as the residents were heaving a sigh of relief, with the issue solved with the BEL, a new problem has cropped up stalling the work again, he added.

A resident angered by the new developments remarked that a new group of people was opposing the work without any basis.

Sources in the BDA said the Authority was addressing the issue and that the matter would be resolved soon.