Bengaluru: Five days ago, Frazer Town stopped receiving drinking water! It took until late Tuesday for BWSSB to restore services to homes, with officials saying the disruption in supply was due to a technical snag - an air block in the pipeline supplying water to the township.
Civic officials insist that an air block cannot be removed in one go and that it takes at least four to five days for the civic body to get the water flowing again.
But here's the thing - it didn't end with Frazer Town. As water began flowing into the township, a water pipe exploded on Cunningham Road on Tuesday afternoon, spewing some 5,000 litres of water or more, unchecked.
The last time, Deccan Chronicle checked, the pipe has reportedly continued to leak, flooding the street corner with water. Pictures of the leak have gone viral with angry residents flooding the BWSSB complaints cell with messages.
An Assistant Executive Engineer, at BWSSB trotted out this specious defense: “We cannot remove the air block at once. It takes time."
“After continuous efforts for five days, we resolved the technical snag. In this process, there was water loss on Tuesday. We were bombarded with complaints that there was water loss on Cunningham Road. However, that's not true. Our officials monitored the repair work," he added.
If Board officials are suggesting that the loss of water was a part of the repair process as the pipeline that provides water to Frazer Town runs through Cunningham Road, how do they explain the waterworks on Cunningham Road that had not been fixed?
Praveen.K, a resident, complained, "Horrified at the sight of water loss on Cunnigham Road! Suffering without drinking water from a couple of days and this water loss is heartbreaking. Disappointed with BWSSB officials!"
For the residents of Frazer Town, the weekend had been a nightmare as drinking water stopped running in the taps. Although the BWSSB had alerted the residents about the air block in a pipeline supplying water to Frazer Town, there were huge difficulties in managing without water for five days.
"We have a borewell in our house but we mostly depend on BWSSB for drinking water. Since we cook in the early hours of the day during Ramzan, although the BWSSB supplied water in tankers, it was not easy to manage. After repeated requests to address the complaint at the earliest, the problem was finally resolved on Tuesday evening," said Anjum Pasha, a relieved resident of Frazer Town.
