Yesterday’s continuous rains have wrecked havoc in HSR Layout, leading to several residents suffering power breakdowns. This has led to water shortage too as the sump and borewell motors need electricity to transport water to the overhead tank. With BWSSB’s schedule being erratic, the residents were far more inconvenienced as they were getting Cauvery water but there was no electricity to send that supply to the storage tank.
According to Bescom officials, over a hundred complaints were registered overnight. Strong winds led to many tree falls and pole collapses across HSR Layout. This has led to outages across the neighbourhood, causing much agony to the residents. These pictures will convey the story better than any words would.
Bescom officials are doing their rounds of the neighbourhood to fix the faults. In other places, there was sparking in the transformers that had tripped the MCB’s. After fixing the sparking, the power is now back in several homes.
While Bescom officials claim that they have begun trimming the trees, fixing the leaning poles and errant transformers to be monsoon-ready, much more needs to be done to avoid the entire neighbourhood going dark for over 18 hours, like it happened in several parts of HSR Layout, including Sector 3, since 5pm yesterday.
Every Sector in HSR Layout is reeling under Cauvery water shortage. With the Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB) providing erratic water supply, every resident and association member is up in arms. Stung by the increasing unrest among people, the BWSSB has released a time table for the whole of April.
Sector 3 activist HM Javali spoke to the BWSSB engineers and requested them to ration water equitably to all sectors as there were allegations that certain areas were water-sufficient while the other stretches were crying for water. Even the borewells have gone dry in several areas, prompting everyone to take refuge in water tankers who have doubled their prices. Says Sector 3 resident SB Kittur: “The water tanker lobby is taking advantage of the situation by increasing the rates. There is no control on the prices. By delaying the water supply, the BWSSB is helping them make more money. Adds fellow resident Rajesh: “Yes, it’s true, the prices are increasing. For 4500 litres, they are charging Rs 1200.”
Last week, fed up with complaints from all the sectors, BNR Reddy, the chairman of The Federation of HSR Layout Residents Welfare Association met with the BWSSB’s senior engineers and threatened a dharna in front of their office if the situation does not improve within a week. Thankfully, it has, but much more needs to be done. Take today. According to the BWSSB, Sector 3 is supposed to get Cauvery water, but so far, there is no sign of a single drop, complain residents.
At the BWSSB Pump House, there are over 200 complaints from the residents but hardly a few get tanker water from the BWSSB when the taps don’t run. Says Sector 1 resident Syed Imran: “Only those who go to the pump house and apply pressure are getting water tankers once in a while. In Sector 1, we get water once in five days whereas in Jayanagar, it’s every alternate day. This is unacceptable.” He has also complained to the chairman of the BWSSB.
In the meanwhile, there are WhatsApp forwards being circulated by the residents, quoting an analysis by the Central Government Water Committee that advocates people to stop using the shower and use a bucket instead. Similarly, avoid flushing the toilet and use a bucket instead. Don’t wash clothes in running tap; use a bucket instead. Use a mug for shaving or brushing teeth instead of a running tap. Similarly dry wash your car, and use a sprinkler for gardening, The upshot? Every family can save atleast 300 litres of water every day with minor changes in their life style. We agree and advocate these methods to everyone.
‘No election duty, please’
The agency has sought exemption for its staff from election duty citing disruption in essential services. Stating that it will not be able to function smoothly if critical staff are picked for the duty, the civic body has written to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka, seeking exemption of employees from election duty. As many as 1,150 employees, including engineers, clerks, inspectors, valvemen and other worker are asked to attend training sessions for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Mughals restaurant on 17th Cross in Sector 4 had done it for several years. After it shut down, The Egg Factory took its place.
However, the violation remains despite the Sector 4 residents pointing out the glaring irregularities. The pictures below convey the encroachment of the footpath better than anything else.
If you spot similar irregularities, whatsapp us (9880585748) and we will do stories on them too.
After the news broke that the neighbouring BTM Layout constituency MLA has given control switches to Ward 173 that automatically switch off the streetlights at dusk, the residents of HSR Layout are demanding similar facility in Ward 174.
For a long time now, the residents have been manually operating the lights. Sometimes, the lights stay on all day if the resident in charge of doing it is out of town. Many residents have suggested in the past that automatic sensors would be a great way to save electricity. When they read about our report that Ramalinga Reddy had used his MLA funds and spent Rs 25 lakh to install LED lights and control switches, the residents are asking MLA Satish Reddy and corporator Gurumurthy Reddy to do the same. When we asked BESCOM officials (Bangalore Electricity Supply Company) about it, they said that their job is to only supply electricity while the BBMP has to provide the control switches.
“We will decide about the control switches after our BBMP Council meeting on October 10,” corporator Gurumurthy Reddy told Residents Watch. “With the mayor just getting elected, there are a lot of development works to be done for HSR Layout. No matter how much we ask, they will only give Rs 3 crore.”
However, the corporator said that he will request for more money because it is required for laying nearly 3000 culverts in HSR ward, changing the sanitary lines, developing the parks and fixing the street upkeep issue. “The sweeping is spotty at best in HSR,” he told Residents Watch. “Under the previous Congress government, the system of payment to garbage contractors was changed. Now BBMP is paying the sweepers (pourakarmikas) and labourers themselves.”
We spoke to HSR garbage contractor Roopesh Reddy, and he admitted to the dismal scenario. “Under the new scheme of the previous government, the labourers who were aged over 60 years or had only one year experience were removed but no new people were hired to replace them,” he told Residents Watch. “There is a labour shortage of almost 50%. The result is that while the door to door garbage collection is going on like before, the sweeping is not being done properly.”
That is not all. The BBMP still owes the garbage contractors money. According to Roopesh, the corporation still has to pay him for the last four months (June to September). “We are hopeful, lets see what happens,” he said.
Coviam, an IT company based out of 11th cross, 24th Main, Sector 1, suffered damages worth over Rs 50,000 due to a short circuit.
A month ago, Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) installed a High Tension (HT) line from 24th Main near Maha Bazaar right up to 22nd Main where a new marriage hall is coming up. This HT line touches many trees on 11th Cross Road where this IT firm is located. Every time it rains, there are sparks and small fires in the trees. Last week, Coviam suffered a loss of rupees 50,000 caused by short circuit that originated at this High Tension wire next to their building.
According to company sources, on September 26, at around 4pm, there was a bigger short circuit and a small fire broke out. This High Tension wire is a fire hazard and a hazard to life and limb of the residents. Coviam has already filed a written complaint to BESCOM AE S11 substation and requested the following to be done immediately:
1. Urgent trimming of trees on 11th Cross Road.
2. Checking if the High Tension Wire is damaged.
Residents moving around this area are advised to be cautious until this issue is resolved.
The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has issued a notice to all the residents of Bangalore. The notice says that their officials have observed that some houses have connected their rain water collection outlets to sanitary pipes, causing heavy pressure on the underground pipes that have led to water gushing out of manholes during the rainy season. Not only does the water flow on to the road but also flood the area and even enter houses in low-lying areas. Therefore, the BWSSB mandates that the rain water outlet should be connected either to the RainWater Harvesting pit or to the storm water drains. It is also prohibited to connect the sewage outlet of the house to the storm water drains. It should go to the sanitary pipe underground. Anybody violating these laws will be fined without mercy.
Reacting to this news, resident Narayani Das had this to say: “Can the BWSSB then ensure that the storm water drains, especially on Somasundrapalya main road from the circle to Shobha daffodil are desilted to allow the free flow of water, and also put back the slabs properly, so that all the shop owners on that road do not throw waste which clogs all these drains?”
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