The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) seems to have turned a blind eye to illegal drawing of water from its main pipelines by many residents and apartment inhabitant in Ashwini Layout of Ejipura and VGS Layout.
Some residents in these areas are unlawfully drawing water directly from the BWSSB’s main pipelines. They have linked their connections to motor pumps to draw water from the main lines.
In spite of residents complaining about the scarce supply for the past five months, the Board has only managed to issue notification to ‘32 violators’ and has not taken any action against them.
“Many of these motors are located inside the sump which makes it difficult even for the Board engineers to identify. What is even more annoying is that it is the educated class, who despite being aware of the City’s water problems, are involved in the illegalities. Though the Board officials are aware of the problem, they have turned a blind eye to it,” the resident said.
Around 50 residents of the area have written to the BWSSB chairman, engineers, the local MLA and Minister Ramalinga Reddy.
Despite filing several RTI applications to get a clear picture of water supply in the area, they have only managed to collect documents, with no details on the action taken against the offenders.
“A BWSSB officer who had come to check the motor pumps, simply asked the owners to switch off the pumps, instead of seizing them. The BWSSB officers are not really interested in solving the problem,” another resident said.
According to BWSSB’s area executive engineer, they cannot just go around and remove the motor pumps as there are chances of backlash from the residents. He said the issue had to be handled with care. A second round of notices will be issued to these inhabitants after the elections, he added.