Bengaluru: In Whitefield, residents are up in arms over commercial borewells

The severe water crisis in Bengaluru has once again drawn attention towards the illegal drilling of borewells in residential areas. Residents of Ambedkar Nagar in Whitefield recently took to the streets and halted the drilling of a borewell by a builder who was constructing a building meant to provide Paying Guest (PG) accommodations.Residents complained that the surge of commercial borewells in the area has led to the depletion of groundwater, leaving public borewells dry. Commercial borewells have a larger pipe diameter for greater output of water.Ambedkar Nagar has seen a heavy influx of people in recent years thanks to its proximity to the IT corridor. Buildings offering PG accommodations have sprung up everywhere and almost every road in the locality has at least three to four such buildings. The consequence of this has been felt by other residents who have seen their drinking water supply shrink. Residents allege that the borewells being dug by these builders are illegal and even the construction of the buildings violates bye-laws and lacks approvals by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP)..Sonnappa, a government school teacher who resides in the area, told TNM that almost the area has around 30 PG buildings, the majority of which have five or six storeys. “I filed a Right To Information (RTI) application and the response told me that most of these buildings are illegal, as they don’t have the necessary documents, including the plan approval or a fire safety certificate. Although they are not allowed to drill a borewell, they do. About ten more constructions are going on in the area,” he said. He further said that almost all the PG buildings have their own borewells, which is one of the main reasons, why the public borewells went dry. Ambedkar Nagar belongs to the Kadugodi suburb, a prime residential locality near Whitefield. As the area is closer to the IT companies in Whitefield, the PG owners take advantage of the huge demand for housing. Residents have approached the BBMP several times, alerting them to the lack of legal approvals, but no one from the civic agency has bothered to respond to their complaints. “I have filed many complaints to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, along with the photos of the construction sites. I have even written to the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister,” said Sonnappa..Your subscription fuels our journalism. Subscribe to TNM and keep the stories that matter alive. .BBMP Assistant Executive Engineer Venkatesh told TNM that they had received the complaints and had already issued notices to a few construction sites about the illegal drilling of borewells. However, residents pointed out that the builders continued the work, despite the legal notices or warnings. As far as the illegality of the building construction, Venkatesh could only assure of action later.“Ambedkar Nagar is one instance where people have been vocal about their rights. Many such layouts all over Whitefield are filled with illegal PG buildings, constructed without proper sanction or planning,” said Sandeep Anirudhan, a citizen activist. He further said that these buildings make use of the Cauvery water, even without having a water metre.The water warsAmbedkar Nagar has six public borewells, out of which, four have dried up after the failed monsoon and extreme summer. The remaining two borewells serve as the water resource for more than 2,000 people in the locality. But the water levels in the remaining two have come down recently, and the proliferation of commercial borewells is one of the main reasons for that, residents say.The area has not received Cauvery water for more than a year now. “We don’t get Cauvery water at all these days. Not even once in three months. It is becoming difficult for us to manage these days,” said Ramesh, a shop owner and resident.Although the BWSSB supplies free water through tankers, it hardly caters to the needs of the population. “Last week, people were fighting with each other to get five pots of water each from the BWSSB tanker. The situation has become that worse now,” said Anitha, a resident. Consequently, the households have no choice but to depend on ever-expensive water tankers. The cost of a 5,000 litre tanker has soared from Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 within weeks, and rose again to Rs 1,200 last week, according to the residents. “PG buildings can afford the rising price, but it is the common residents who are struggling. If we don’t agree to the price, the tankers will simply stop supplying to us and will shift to the buildings,” Anitha said..Poor governance and lack of policy implementationResidents expressed frustration with unresponsive elected representatives who only appear during elections. “Now that the election is nearing, we see candidates coming around, making promises, asking for votes and bribing the voters. We don’t care which government comes to power, our problems remain unsolved regardless,” said Ramesh.According to Sandeep, even though officials issue legal warnings, many buildings have ceased to care. “The lack of elected corporators for nearly four years has further disadvantaged residents, leaving them with no clear authority to address their grievances. Residents are forced to take desperate measures like stopping the drilling on the spot because they are left with no one to be held accountable.” Another problem, Sandeep said, was that many of these owners are not from Karnataka, making it difficult to hold them accountable. “It is almost impossible to contact them as they won’t be available most of the time, and the buildings are managed by people who don’t have a clue about the legalities,” he said. Most owners and locals managing the PG buildings contacted by TNM refused to answer questions about the borewells. .Propaganda is free and the truth needs your money to survive. Subscribe to TNM and pay to keep news free.