Malleshpalya, GM Palya dry to the bone

Residents of Malleshpalya and GM Palya, both located adjacent to CV Raman Nagar in East Bangalore, have realised one thing: one does not have to live in a remote rural area to experience the dependence on good monsoon rains to enjoy what is basic to life - water. They have experienced that life in Bangalore’s peripheral areas such as their localities can be just as bad while suffering dry monsoons. This, despite living in a city that is trying to attract lakhs of crores of rupees in foreign investment by promising international standards of living to woo the investors not too far away, near Devanahalli.

The residents of these areas will tell you what it means to be a victim of administrative failure - the two areas are not yet included in the Cauvery water supply belt. The two areas earlier fell under the jurisdiction of the erstwhile HAL Sanitary Board before being included in the Greater Bangalore jurisdiction when Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was formed from the earlier Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP).

As such, Malleshpalya and GM Palya are yet to be included into the Cauvery water supply belt. In both these areas, water is being supplied through Ground Level Reservoir (GLR) near CV Raman Nagar off Old Airport Road, where the water levels used to be over 10 feet, which has now fallen to below eight.

“How can residents survive with such little water? We get water once in 10 days. Sometimes, a whole month goes by without water supply,” says Sagar L, a resident of Malleshpalya.
The compounded result of lack of rain (resulting lack of water) and absence of effective administrative decisions is there for all to see.

Empty pots say it all
While most of GM Palya depends on public water supplied by Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) through borewell taps, some have water supply connections for this water at home. But a majority of the residents in these two areas who do not have water connections and are forced to depend on public taps to fill water are not only disappointed, but also disgusted by the time and energy wasted in queues to wait for water.

Lakshmamma KT, a tailor, says, “We have to take pots to the borewell and wait for eternity. There is a specific time given to us when water is supplied and we have to be there to fill water at that time, or we have to go without water,” says Hema Kumari, a Malleshpalya resident.

Some of them even resort to bribing the water tanker owner to ensure they get water. “We get tankers on some days. We give him (the driver/owner) some money as advance. He calls us beforehand so we can be ahead of the others to get the water. Once we get our quota, we inform the others. But we are desperate to do this as we do not have the energy to wait in a long queue after a hard day’s work,” says Leelavathi Gowda, a factory worker.

Pathetic situation
So pathetic is the situation on the water supply front that even the area’s corporator, M Krishna - despite being elected representative on BBMP council - is unable to do any better than to endure getting water supply just once in a fortnight.

There is little hope for the residents, who have been suffering from water shortage woes since the last five years, which get aggravated when monsoons fail, as has happened now.

“Our major problem is that we are yet to receive Cauvery water. Until that happens, it will only be violence at the public taps. I, too, get water once in 15 days to my house by calling in a water tanker,” says Krishna, the area corporator.

The residents' frustration has only increased over the last few weeks as their hopes of good rains mitigating their miseries have been dashed. Over the past two weeks no water tankers have arrived in GM Palya; worse, the taps too have run dry.