For long, residents of Bengaluru’s Whitefield have been complaining that the Channasandra Main Road is full of potholes and the manhole lids are so high that it makes it difficult and dangerous to drive over it. They were hopeful when the repair work on the road finally began in November. However, it was short-lived. Periodic leaks in the pipes laid by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSS) has been disrupting the road repair work. As a result, according to the residents, the state of the road continues to remain the same as it has been in the last two years. They alleged that the BWSSB did a shoddy job whenever they made ad-hoc repairs.
“Recently, the BWSSB said they have completed all the work of laying water pipes and the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) started the asphalting. However, after they asphalted the road for a stretch of 100 meters, the very next day, on November 12, there was a major leak in the water pipe and undoing the work done by the BBMP. To correct this, the BWSSB has dug up the road again,” said Amit Sharma, a resident of Whitefield.
He further added “The BWSSB officials had orally assured that the issue was fixed and the BBMP said they did not receive any written information or any proof that the work has been completed properly. On Monday, too, the water started leaking and the asphalting was stopped.”
BWSSB said that they have repaired all the leaks that they have found till now and have given clearance for the asphalting to continue.
Speaking to TNM, Mirza Anwar, Assistant Executive Engineer of BWSSB, said, “We should understand that in Bengaluru, the development works keep happening and if the excavation is constantly done in and around the same area, the soil gets loosened and shifting pipes causes leakages. All the pipes are underground and a leak somewhere else could result in a water leak in another area. All methods we use to detect a leak are non-intrusive and don’t cause damage. The leakage on Monday is not a perineal leakage and it has been sorted out by our team. Also, this leak, as I understand, is near an already asphalted road and shouldn’t cause problems to the asphalting process.”