Bengaluru: With Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) demanding huge amounts as deposits for fresh Cauvery water connections, residents at several apartment complexes in the city are left wondering whether piped water is pipe dream for them, leading to only a lukewarm response towards availing this facility.
According to documents accessed by TOI, BWSSB had, in March 2020, revised the deposits for water connections from Rs 250 per sqm to Rs 400 per sqm for residential buildings. The deposits are for both, piped water connections and sewage treatment plants (STPs).
Residents of apartment complexes are now complaining that this is a huge burden for them.
“We have to pay Rs 400 per sqm, irrespective of whether it is a 2BHK, 3BHK, or penthouse. My flat is about 1,955 sqft (about 182 sq mts). Including the common area, the total will be more than Rs 1.2 lakh. With around 500 apartments, BWSSB is asking us to pay [a cumulative sum of] Rs 3.6 crore, which is a huge amount,” said Namratha (name changed), a resident of an apartment in Kasavanahalli.
The problem gets exacerbated for apartment complexes, possessions for which were handed out by the builders/developers years back after collecting the money towards BWSSB water connections. Many of these builders/developers are now unresponsive.
“We will hold a meeting tomorrow with the Bengaluru Apartment Federation (BAF) to discuss these issues,” senior BWSSB officials said.
It has been more than 15 days since BWSSB began issuing new piped water connections. So far, 15,000 connections have been provided.
“The builders should be fighting for us, but they are nowhere to be seen, leaving us to suffer,” said Anjali V, a Bellandur resident.
BWSSB’s demand for huge deposits flies in the face of its own assertions that the water crisis in the city every summer can be mitigated only if everyone takes Cauvery water connections.
Deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar recently announced that the state govt had made it mandatory for all apartments to take Cauvery connections, though many are yet to apply. The DCM himself spoke of about 20,000 complexes in the city that are reluctant to avail of the facility.
“In 2016, BWSSB had asked for Rs 3.8 crore for BWSSB connections for the 608 flats in Gokulam Apartments, at a rate of Rs 250 per sqm. However, since the contractor paid BWSSB a day late, the latter demanded double the amount — Rs 7.8 crore — which he refused,” a member of the apartment committee at Gokulam Apartments, Kanakapura Road, told TOI.
“We were told to pay Rs 7.8 crore for a Cauvery connection. When we argued that it was unreasonable, BWSSB demanded the receipt for the Rs 3.8 crore paid by the builder earlier, which we didn’t have. How can we keep paying according to their whims and fancies?” the member questioned.