Sheer negligence by the BBMP resulted in a major water leakage at the main pipeline at Rajaji Nagar, depriving as many as 10,000 households in the area of water that they use for several domestic purposes, including consumption. What is worse is that measures to plug the pipeline breach may take all of Tuesday before the residents’ parched throats could turn moist again.

It is estimated that as much as four million litres of water literally went down the drain.
A faulty approach by the BBMP towards sinking a borewell to meet the water requirements of a public toilet being constructed in the locality was at the centre of the problem. The foundation stone for the borewell project was laid by Urban Development Minister S Suresh Kumar on Sunday. A day later, BBMP men put paid to it.

Water gushed out in jets an hour after the BBMP workers initiated drilling work at 10:30 am in a bid to sink a borewell in front of the Power House on ESI Hospital Road at Rajaji Nagar. The rig hit the main water pipeline which suffered extensive damage, a BWSSB source disclosed. “Water, which was supplied to residents at 9:30 am, stopped flowing to taps within an hour due to lack of force in the pipeline,” he said.

Since this was the main pipeline and there were no valves to control it, water started gushing out with great force. “Within a span of four hours, four million litres of
water went down the drain,” the source revealed.

BBMP conceded the pipeline was “slightly damaged” because of the ongoing work. Chief Engineer, West, Ramesh said: “We did not know a pipeline was running underneath and so the problem occurred.”  When asked about the huge loss of water, he said: “I do not know about it, but our intention was to provide uninterrupted water to the toilet. We must now find another nearby location for the borewell since it cannot be dug here anymore.”

Meanwhile, all through Monday the control rooms at the BWSSB and BBMP were flooded with calls from anxious Rajaji Nagar residents enquiring when water supply would be restored. BWSSB engineers and officials were at work till late on Monday night to fix the breach. “It will be rectified by midnight. Though Tuesday is not a day to supply water here, we will try our best to restore normalcy,” a BWSSB official asserted.