BWSSB makes a mess of water leakages in Sri Vidyanagar

The roads at Sri Vidyanagar area in Banashankari 3rd stage, which were dug up by the Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for plugging water leakages, are in disarray now.

One-and-a-half month ago, the roads in 4th, 6th block and 7th block of Sri Vidyanagar were dug up as part of BWSSB’s unaccounted for water (UFW) project that included examining the condition of water pipes, conducting pressure zero tests, replacing valves and pipeline, fixing of pressure gauges, replacing leaking lines with medium density polyethylene pipes (MDPE) pipes among others.

The work is being carried out by L&T. The project undertaken at Sri Vidyanagar is still in the initial stage and includes laying of new sanitary pipelines of bigger dimensions and replacing the old damaged Cauvery pipelines with new ones. Residents are pleased with the project but are unhappy with the way it is being executed.

Ever since BWSSB undertook the work, the lanes have turned into an eyesore, residents maintain. A few lanes in the locality have been dug up and covered. However, they are not done properly with heaps of mud and defective pipelines still lying on the lanes in a neglected state.

The work is still in progress and would take another six to eight months to complete. Mrithyunjayachar, president, Banashankari 3rd Block Resident Welfare Association (RWA), said: “It’s difficult to walk on lanes where the work is going on as they gather too much dust when vehicles pass by. The project is not being done scientifically and needs to be executed quickly.” 

Another committee member complained that before the execution of the work, BWSSB officials never informed the members and residents about the work. K N Mahesh, Assistant Engineer, Cauvery Project Stage-IV, Division-II, told Deccan Herald that they were trying to finish the project at the earliest.

The UFW project that was launched on June 6, 2003 costs around Rs 135 crore covering 55 sq km in six Assembly segments of Basavanagudi, Chamarajpet, Padmanabhanagar, Jayanagar, BTM Layout and Bangalore South.