If you are yet to apply for a metered water connection, better do so by January 15. After that the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) will disconnect Cauvery pipelines and borewell water supply to your houses.
Worried over the lukewarm response from citizens to its ambitious Cauvery IV Stage 2nd Phase project, the water board has now fixed January 15 as the last date for people to take metered connections. Those drawing water without meters will have to pay a hefty penalty as their connections will be considered as unauthorised.
Although the project was commissioned on October 31, hardly 40,000 of the targeted 2.2 lakh new consumers have obtained metered connections so far. While nearly 97,000 applications for new connections have been issued, not even half of them have actually got the connections, a senior BBWSB official said.
The new project, envisaged to augment the city’s water supply by 500 million litres a day (mld), has been implemented to meet the city’s ever-increasing demand for water. Although the board has been supplying 900 mld to the 6 lakh consumers in the core city areas, the new areas that were catered to by the erstwhile city municipal councils (CMCs) continue to depend on borewell supply.
BWSSB Engineer-in-Chief T. Venkataraju told The Hindu that people were not interested in obtaining metered connections because they were content with the free borewell water supply to their areas.
“To attract consumers and also give them a guarantee that water supply through the new project has started, we are also giving free supply to some houses in each area. Despite this, the response has been poor. So we have fixed a deadline,” he said.
Several charges
Pointing out that nearly 70 per cent of the areas where pipelines were laid under the Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project (GBWASP) were covered under the Cauvery IV Stage 2nd Phase, Mr. Venkataraju said: “Post January 15, people who have not obtained metered connections will not only have to spend on getting the pipelines laid again but also pay additional road-cutting charges to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). “This will be apart from the prescribed BWSSB fee for new connections. All this will not only mean residents will have to shell out more money but also face hassles in obtaining road-cutting permission,” Mr. Venkataraju said.
Survey
The proposed survey of unauthorised water connections announced by the water board will take off on January 1. Over 280 meter readers assisted by valvemen will visit every house in their jurisdiction to check the connections in both old and new areas. “Those found to have borewell connections without Cauvery supply meters will have to forgo their borewell supply,” he added.
