The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) is at it again. It has dug up the newly paved footpath on St. Mark’s Road that is being developed under Tender SURE (Specifications for Urban Road Execution).
The objective of developing the road under Tender SURE was to ensure that frequent digging to service various utilities did not happen, pointed out experts. This is why all the utilities, including power lines, water and sewage lines, had been shifted to either side of the road to the utility ducts below the footpaths.
However, the BWSSB has now dug up the footpath, citing leak in a water pipeline. BWSSB’s engineer-in-chief T. Venkatraju said, “We have put a new water supply pipeline on St. Mark’s Road. But the old pipeline developed leaks. We have now dug up the pavement to switch over from the old pipeline to the new line.”
Admitting that the switchover should have been done earlier, he attributed the delay to “some technical issues”.
This isn’t the first time that the BWSSB has bungled up. The utility, after changing the pipelines on Residency Road, has failed to ensure that the manhole also is in the utility duct. As a result, the manhole is right on the carriageway on St. Mark’s Road in the stretch leading to Residency Road.
About the BWSSB receiving flak for digging up the footpath, defeating the purpose of Tender SURE, he said that Tender SURE was a new concept and BWSSB had learnt its lessons in the first phase.
He added that the utility would henceforth ensure that all works were completed before the pavement work is done.
Meanwhile, the Chief Secretary has pulled up the BWSSB for digging up the footpath after it was laid. Sources confirmed that Kaushik Mukherjee, chief secretary, criticised the BWSSB for its shoddy work at a recent meeting.
“I have instructed BWSSB chairman Anjum Pervez to ensure that the utility bears the cost of relaying of the footpath and restore it to its earlier condition within four days,” he said.
