A police complaint was registered against telecom company Jio by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for damaging its pipelines while laying cables. In its complaint to the Whitefield police, the BWSSB alleged that the cables were laid without getting the required permission from the authorities concerned.
Based on a complaint by Mirza Anwar, Assistant Executive Engineer, Kundanahalli division, the police on Saturday booked executives of Jio under Section 3 of the Karnataka Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act and under Section 427 (mischief causing damage).
Mr. Mirza said in the complaint that the company had entrusted the work to private contractors who dug up a stretch of ECC Main Road in Whitefield to lay cables last Friday. In the process, they damaged the water supply pipeline at six different locations, due to which supply was disrupted.
Following a series of complaints, the BWSSB team began to trace the leakage. It took them around six days to locate the breach points and rectify them. Besides loss of hundreds of litres of water, the BWSSB had to spend ₹6 lakh for the repairs, Mr. Mirza said in the complaint, adding that the company executives did not respond to repeated queries about their work plan and alignment.
The police have summoned the company executives for an explanation, following which penal action would be initiated, a senior police officer said.
‘Just one company after another’
Ganesh Narayan, a resident of ECC Road, said, "One company dug up the road and destroyed the Cauvery pipeline in the first week of June, disrupting water supply for about a week. Another company damaged the Bescom line while digging and we didn't have power supply last week. The problems were fixed only after repeatedly following up with the BWSSB and Bescom. This never-ending digging is destroying the already poor infrastructure in Whitefield."
Pravir Bagrodia, member of Whitefield Rising, said that such work is mostly carried out at night, and the damaged road is never restored. "The worst affected areas are on Outer Circle - from 6th Cross junction to 3rd Cross (behind the post office), Dodsworth Layout and Vijaynagar."
Mr. Mirza said two teams comprising valve-men and water inspectors had been set up to patrol the area and report any digging work by private companies.
