Garbage, parked lorries, a makeshift mechanic shed, and now raw sewage. These are the sights and smells that over 4,000 students have to deal with daily as they enter and leave their school and college at Jeevan Bima Nagar. The campus of the Sacred Heart primary school, pre-university college and first grade college shares space with a recently constructed apartment complex and an empty plot of land that is under litigation.
While people from neighbouring areas such as Anandapura, Sudamanagar and Jagdishnagar have been using the open space to dump garbage, the apartment complex, with no underground sewage connection, has been letting out sewage into a pit created in the open.
“The apartment complex came up a year ago. But in the last month, sewage has been overflowing from the pit and entering our compound. A lot of students have fallen sick and absenteeism has gone up. We are concerned about primary school students. Parents have also been complaining about the unhygienic surroundings,” said a staff member of the college.
ADVERTISEMENT
The management has met the apartment’s Residents’ Association, written letters to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), gone to the local councillor, and even met officials, but a solution is far from sight. “The BBMP engineer inspected the area and met the apartment association members. He told us he had given a deadline to the apartment to fix the issue. But nothing has happened so far,” the staff member said.
‘Cheated by developer’
However, residents’ association members said they were cheated by the developer who allegedly took money but never got them the sewage line. “We were forced to create a pit and let the sewage into it. After that we applied to the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB) for a connection. We understand their problem. But we are also affected,” said Ramesh, president of the association.
ADVERTISEMENT
Veena Kumari, local councillor, said, “There seems to be some issue between the BWSSB and the apartment with regard to payment for laying a new line. I have asked the local engineers to issue a notice to the apartment association, asking them to take corrective action at the earliest.”
As the apartment complex is yet to be given a sewage connection, officials of both the BBMP and the BWSSB are pointing fingers at each other. Krishna, assistant executive engineer (AEE), ward no. 88, BBMP, said the sewage issue was looked after by the BWSSB, even as Jagadish, AEE, ward 88, BWSSB, said unless the apartment complex had taken the sewage connection, they could do little.
Sarfaraz Khan, Joint Commissioner, Health, BBMP, said flooding of the school compound with raw sewage was a public health hazard, and the apartment would be issued notice to fix their sewage system at the earliest.
Viral fever cases on the rise
Stagnant sewage and the presence of garbage has led to some students of the Sacred Heart school and college taking ill. “There have been a few dengue cases as well. This is a major health risk,” said the college principal.
However, BBMP health official said though the presence of sewage was a health concern, dengue cases cannot be linked to it. “Moreover, when it comes to sewage, it is the responsibility of the BWSSB to ensure that water does not get contaminated. The BBMP has not received any report of a disease breakout from the areas,” the official said.