When Shantinagar resident Renuka Prasad turned on the tap in his home a week ago, he found the water coming out was brown in colour.
“For the past one week, the water is discoloured, and it stinks. We have had problems of water contamination in Shantinagar ward for the last one-and-a-half years,” said Mr. Prasad, who lives on Basappa Road in Shanthinagar and is the president of Shantinagar Residents’ Welfare Association (RWA). The problem of sewage mixing with drinking water owing to corroded pipelines is not new to the area, he added.
Their only source of drinking water has been private water tankers, which costs Rs. 1,000 per load, he said during an interaction with Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George and officials from various civic agencies and the police, on Saturday.
Mr. Prasad said that every time the problem occurred, officials made stop-gap arrangement to fix it.
“They either plug the leak or flush out the water till clean water appears in the tanks. But in a few months, contamination happens again,” he said.
Satish Kumar, Additional Chief Engineer, acknowledged that the problem happens near Akkithimanahalli. “There is a proposal to replace sanitary pipelines in the area,” he said.
Mr. George said that many pipelines in the central business district were laid several decades ago.
“A proper study should be carried out. If corroded pipelines are the cause of contamination, they need to be replaced,” he said.
Issues raised
Lack of dry waste collection centres
Desilting of storm water drains
Noise pollution due to restaurants, pubs
Lack of transparency in PWD work
Building violations
Encroachment of footpaths
Garbage dumped in vacant sites
Animal Birth Control programme
