Bengaluru: To increase the new water connections in the newly added areas in the BBMP, the BWSSB is roping in Resident Welfare Associations to create awareness among the members about water connections.
The BWSSB is now approaching residents directly and appealing to them to take authorised BWSSB connections. They have resorted to this after all their efforts to reach their target of the number of new connections have failed under the latest Cauvery project — Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) Stage IV Phase II.
The BWSSB targeted 3-4 lakh new connections in these areas as the CWSS Stage IV Phase II was supposed to benefit especially the residents of the erstwhile CMC/ TMC areas that have been merged into the city corporation limits — Rajarajeshwarinagar, Dasarahalli, Yelahanka, Bomannahalli, Byatarayanapura, KR Puram, Mahadevapura and Kengeri, besides stabilising the supply in core areas.
In newly added erstwhile CMC/TMC areas of BBMP, the BWSSB has issued over 1.2 lakh Sajala applications for new water connections. Out of this,less than 75,000 people have applied for connections so far and less than 70,000 have been sanctioned, while the remaining are under process. The number of connections issued are even lower.
The issue of a low number of BWSSB connections is particularly worrisome because these areas have a very high number of borewells a and very low water table that is rapidly depleting. Many in these areas also use unauthorised connections, which are not paid for. The BWSSB was expecting a flood of applications owing to a tough summer but this did not happen.
“Our local areas officials are going door-to-door and also organising meetings with RWAs and in the neighbourhoods to create awareness about how an authorised connection will save the groundwater and also ensure safety against the threat of contamination due to water drawn illegally from the BWSSB network,” said a BWSSB official. “With our direct outreach, we can see more interest among the people and more applications for water and sanitary connections,” the official said.
