Bengaluru: Cutting across party lines corporators discussed the water shortage the city could face in the coming days due to failure of monsoon for two consecutive years. Some corporators, who represent 110 villages, demanded special allocation for drilling borewells.
Ruling party leader Mohammad Rizwan Nawab said that there was an acute shortage of water as BWSSB was not supplying adequate quantity. Hence Corporators were facing the anger of the public and the problem should be tackled at the earliest, he suggested.
In reply, Mayor G. Padmavathi said that Rs 15 lakh has been earmarked for old and core wards and Rs 40 lakh for the newly added villages to sink borewells and meet water requirements. If need be, one borewell for each village can be drilled, she said.
However, this failed to satisfy the corporators. Both ruling and opposition leaders Nawab and Padmanabha Reddy alleged that the BWSSB has failed in its duty of supplying water and the BBMP must release money on a priority basis without waiting for long tender process to resolve the water shortage, they said.
Borewells on footpaths
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad said that it has been noticed that broewells have been dug on the footpaths and water was being sold through tankers. He warned that the Palike will register criminal case against those behind such illegalities as the footpath was BBMP property.
Borewells cannot be drilled for commercial purpose and such structures will be confiscated. While discussing the recent death of a seven-year-old girl after falling into an open borewell, Mayor G. Padmavathi directed BWSSB officials to cap such defunct borewells. In reply, the BWSSB engineers said that 36 contractors have been appointed to maintain 7,000 borewells across the city. The BWSSB too will inspect them directly, he added.
