BWSSB engineers need more than just counselling

The stress on the overworked Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) staff is taking its toll. In the past few days, three engineers have decided to call it quits, deepening the worry lines on the foreheads of the top management. The engineers were harassed and an encounter with corporators who rained harsh words on them was the last straw, say colleagues.

The assistant engineer who worked at a service station in Banashankari has a 10-month-old child to take care of. And the demands of the job were too much to handle, an engineer said.

“She was from an IT background, had spent three years with a multi-national bank and was unaware of the schedules at the water board. Often, she would end up working from 6am to 10 pm. Plus, the phones would ring non-stop. It was too much to take,” a colleague said. The woman resigned just 10 days after she had reported for work.

Another engineer said that family members encouraged her to quit after they heard a corporator speak rudely on the phone. Her husband, who is employed in the IT industry, is planning to go abroad for five years and this prompted her to put in her papers, the associate said.

The junior engineer who was posted at Vijaya Bank Layout was fresh out of college when he joined the board. The inexperienced engineer chose to end his stint with BWSSB merely 10 days into the job, more so after an unexpected meeting with a corporator that did not go well. A fellow engineer said, “He hailed from Tumkur and had just finished his diploma. He was unable to cope with the pressure. Perhaps he felt disillusioned with the day-to-day realities of manning a service station.”

The resignations are symptoms of a deep-rooted malady. The board staffers work in difficult conditions without too many comforts. “This job is not like IT-BT. Unlike in those plush offices, there is no continuous flow of coffee, tea, lunch, dinner etc. Besides, our phones ring incessantly. Even on our days off we have to go to the station and look into complaints,” said a senior engineer who has been with the board for over 25 years. On Ambedkar Jayanti, when most of the city enjoyed a holiday, this engineer said he attended to complaints till 2.30 pm. “We are unable to celebrate festivals, relax on holidays. Leave requests are not accepted. At the most, we can go on leave for a day or two because the board is short-staffed,” said the engineer who works in South Bangalore.

Another engineer from BTM Layout reported the same experience. “I have been here since 6 am; will leave only at 10 pm after I attend to all the complaints. It is not easy working at a BWSSB service station. This situation will continue until the promised 500 mld from the Cauvery IV stage II Phase arrives,” he said.   

Water supply and sewerage clearances are completely reliant on the engineers who are the lifeline of the board. “Whenever there is a leak in water pipes or sewage lines, we are required to be on the site until it is fixed. Often, we are short of staff, lorries and jetting machines. Also, we are faced with abusive people and mobs,” he said. It would help if the public is sensitive to the staff’s position. More responsibility on their part is also required, he said.

“About 50% of blockages in sanitary lines are caused by sanitary towels. When we clear blocks, we frequently take out buckets full of them. Residents should be educated about such issues,” he said. 

As the city’s water and sewage problems grow, it is the engineers who are on call 24x7 that work silently risking their mental health.

BWSSB minister Suresh Kumar’s promise to start a counselling centre could begin to address some of the concerns. But engineers are hesitant to expect too much out of it. “Theory may not be applicable on the field. Counselling could be useful only to some extent,” he said. Another woman engineer suggests that allowing the staff to work in shifts would go a long way in easing the pressure. “The BBMP staff work in shifts. It would help if the same system is brought into the water board,” she said.