Deccan Herald 26.12.2013
Thirst buster gift for New Year
Over 2,000 residents of Sir M Vivesvaraya
Layout at Ullal ward in Kengeri are likely to receive Cauvery water as
the New Year gift. Having been denied the facility ever since the
BDA formed the layout in 2003, the residents have been buying water from
tankers.
Since Kengeri was part of the old City
Municipal Council, there were no existing water lines in the region. The
BWSSB planned to draw a water line from the ground-level reservoir
(GLR) near Beggars’ Colony and supply Cauvery water to Visvesvaraya
Layout.
However, the board, which had almost completed the work
on feeder line, had to face a legal hurdle as a corporator refused to
part with his land acquired by the BDA to lay the pipelines.
lines on the land that belonged to the corporator. The elected
representative dragged the BDA to court and sought better compensation.
The verdict favoured the BDA. Last week, work on laying the feeder lines
was completed under police protection.
The official said that
the BWSSB is now planning to construct three GLRs, each of 11.5 million
litres, in the layout and will draw water from the GLR near the Beggars’
Colony.
On a temporary basis, an interlink loop has been laid
to draw water. Once the construction of the GLR is completed, this line
will be disconnected. If water supply testing is completed, Cauvery
water must reach the residents by January 2014, the official said.
D
S Gowda, president of Sir M Visvesvaraya Layout Site Allottees’ and
Residents’ Association, said: “Although the BDA allotted the sites in
2003, there were absolutely no facilities available in the layout. The
first person who constructed a house here used solar lighting, until
power supply was provided in 2008.
It was only in 2009 that the
BWSSB started laying the pipeline network in the layout.As per Section
30 and 31 of the Bangalore Development Act, 1976, the BDA should not
sell or dispose of sites that do not have basic amenities.
Undertaking
However,
at Sir M V Layout, the BDA asked the allottees to give an undertaking
in the form of a ‘bond’ to get their plan sanctioned, that they will not
demand water or sewage facilities.
Since the allottees were in a
hurry to construct houses, they signed the bond. However, a BDA
official claimed that basic amenities to the layout were delayed due to
legal hurdles.
In the absence of sewage lines, residents have
been discharging waste water into the nearby ‘raja kaluve’ or into the
soak pits. Due to this indiscriminate discharge, the groundwater has
been contaminated, denying residents the option to use borewells.