Places in Bangalore where water costlier than dal and roti

Every month, residents of Benson, Pottery and Williams towns pay more for water than for rice or lentils.

And the city water board has become a cruel joke for them as their appeals for regular supply have fallen on deaf ears.

Even as they pay Rs2,500 a month to water tanker operators, they have not seen even an ounce of water coming from the BWSSB taps.

“We have not been getting water for more than a month now. It has been a never-ending task for us to talk to BWSSB officials, who don’t bother to cooperate,” said Naveen, a resident of Pottery Town.

As per the norms of World Health Organisation, the litre per capita of water in Bangalore is 120, daily. However, the residents of Benson, Pottery and Williams towns have not received any water at all. The minimum water bill of `85 to `100 they received during the last two months proves this.

“In all, we got water on two days for about an hour this month. But we still ended up shelling out more than Rs2,500 on tankers alone,” Naveen said.

According to BWSSB, consumers have to pay about Rs50 to Rs60 if they use 8,000 litres of water per month including service charges. Water tanker operators charge Rs450 irrespective of how much water a family takes. They sometimes charge by the hour or by the litres of water demanded.

“We pay the same amount whether we buy 4,000 litres of water or 10,000 litres. This is unfair. I have a small tank of about 4,000 litres capacity. The tanker has about 10,000 litres of water and more than half of the water is taken back. I still pay Rs450 every time they come to fill my tank,” said Rakesh, a resident of Benson Town. The residents order for water every four days.

“My monthly ration of rice, dal and wheat will cost much less than the amount I pay for water. This place is worse than a desert with no one to hear our appeals,” said Renuka, a homemaker of Williams Town.

While the residents are screaming out their throats dry, BWSSB officials have turned a deaf ear to them.

Meanwhile, IT professionals of the area are also suffering as their day begins at night.

“We usually sleep when the water tanker comes as we work night shifts. When we wake up late evenings, there is no water in the tank. I have started taking a shower at the gym as they usually have water supplied there. It is very difficult if we depend on the regular water supply,” said Hirender Nodiawala, an IT worker living in Benson Town.

BWSSB authorities said they would look into the matter and try to resolve it.

“We have heard such false promises for over two months now and we have lost all hopes,” said Janaki, a school teacher from Pottery Town.