Bengaluru: Yet again, the government agencies have proven that even if it’s a multi-million project aiming to prevent digging up of roads, nothing seems to change the way they function!
Lack of coordination between departments has hampered Bengaluru’s infrastructure for decades, and the latest project to take a beating is TenderSure. When TenderSure was taken up at a whopping Rs 200 crore in the First Phase, it promised to raise the bar for infrastructure development and commuting in the city.
The proposal was approved with the farsighted idea of not having to dig any of these roads for the next two decades. But way before these roads are thrown open to the public, the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has already dug up the recently asphalted St. Mark’s Road, saying that it forgot to replace a pipeline.
BWSSB Chairman Anjum Parvez said that such hiccups cannot be ruled out when new projects are being implemented. “The BWSSB digs up roads to repair leakage and to install new pipelines. The idea of TenderSure is to not dig roads, but I don’t know why the road was dug up near St Mark’s Circle.
Such hiccups are bound to happen and we will be cautious not to repeat it on other roads,” he said. Janaagraha founding-member Swathi Ramanathan told Deccan Chronicle that BWSSB’s old, leaking pipelines are the culprit.
New networks
“The networks planned are new. The existing water lines are old, leaking and broken. The old lines have been left as they were as they are needed to continue to service the properties till the new lines are laid. The new lines provided are against the properties in a straight line, with regular access chambers for sluice valves and last mile connections provided up to the property, at the precise location identified by the BWSSB engineers.
“From here on, it is the BWSSB’s responsibility to attach meters and commission the new water lines,” she said. “The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board has to commission the entire water line of the road and connect it to larger networks at both ends of the road. Once they do this, which the EIC has committed to do within two weeks, the old lines can be de-commissioned. This should stop the leaks,” she said.
Order
She said that the BBMP commissioner is expected to release a government order on the protocol regulations for approval of activity on completed TenderSure roads.
