Canal breach hits City water supply

As a consequence, water supply to the entire City will be shut down till Saturday. Many areas in the City already suffered a total water shutdown on Thursday. Work is taking place on a war-footing to rebuild the collapsed portion in the Handi Halla area with Madras Engineer Group (MEG) forces from Bangalore rushing to the spot on Thursday morning to facilitate repair, said Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) Chief Engineer T Venkataraju.

A 150-strong force, including officials from the BWSSB and Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL), are engaged in the work. An additional protection wall is also being built now. Areas in West Bangalore suffered the maximum on Thursday, said a top official. Nearly 50 per cent of East Bangalore and some parts of South Bangalore are also hit. “The complaint cell of BWSSB and mobile numbers were ringing non-stop on Thursday,” he added.

The affected areas are: Domlur, ITPL, HSR Layout, BTM Lay out, Electronic City, Rajarajeswari Nagar, Kengeri, Chandra Layout, Bangalore University campus, Vijayanagur, MEA Layout, Yelahanka, Srikanta Kaval layout, BIAL airport area, Magadi Road, Mysore Road and J P Nagar.

The chief engineer said the news of the breach reached the BWSSB only by Wednesday noon. Steps to repair the damage were undertaken immediately. Another official said the breach occurred on Tuesday.

Water from the Cauvery river passing through Shivanasamudra (100 km from Bangalore) flows through this open canal running for a length of 20 km to touch NBR (80 km from Bangalore) and then touches T K Halli through gravitational force. “A portion of the wall running to a length of 20 feet and depth of 4 feet has breached as the age-old construction gave way,” an official said.