The water situation has never been so grim in Whitefield. In the past eight years of my stay here, I have seen water supply dwindle down from twice a week to once in ten days. From February this year, there has been no water supply at all.

There are deviations in the original water pipelines leading to communities and apartments. Residents get this done by bribing the linemen. I spoke to K Nagaraj Hoodi, Assistant Engineer, BWSSB (East) about the inequitable water supply and the corruption which is enabling water supply to certain communities alone. Hoodi gave an excuse that water cannot be supplied due to some BWSSB pipelining repair work.

As a desperate measure, I contacted the lineman who not just promised me that he will supply water but also fulfilled it. The next day he sent water to fill my sump up. This makes me question BWSSB’s credibility and their excuses for non-supply of water. It is sad to admit that we are at the mercy of these linemen. If and when the lineman picks up your call, you will get water! Water tankers are also not available as the borewells are dry in the vicinity.

How do I get the concerned people to act? How do I know that excuses of broken pipes, dry borewells, faulty motors etc,. are really the reasons for lack of water supply? Why should I slip in cash into their pockets for bare minimum water supply?

How is a property like Whitefield being permitted to develop if existing residents do not have the basic water supply? Can BWSSB  get away on these excuses? An investigation into the water resource, its distribution and the deviations in pipelines and supplies is imperative.⊕

Sheeja Nair is a resident of Inner Circle Whitefield.

Citizen Matters encourages citizen reporting. For more, see section on citizen journalism in our terms and conditions.

See articles on