Residents pay for official apathy

Bangalore: To lay drainage pipes at BTM Layout 24th and 26th mains, contractors are asking resident to pay for the work even though there are dedicated funds allotted by the municipal corporation for the purpose

Backed by corporators and the BWSSB, the contractors have been collecting money from the residents for the underground drainage work, which has been going on for over a month now. Around 35 houses from each main are getting underground drainage connections.

The contractors demand anywhere from Rs. 1700 to Rs 3000 and sometimes more, from every resident of BTM layout 2nd stage's 24th and 26th mains. Residents even have to purchase the materials required such as pipes and give these to the contractor.

If residents argue or refuse to give the demanded money, their outlet pipes are damaged and they are made to suffer for a couple of days. "The outlet of my house was damaged because I denied giving them any money without a receipt. We had to suffer for an entire week and had to fix it with our own money," complains Swaroopa Kumar, a resident.

Residents say the contractor has told them that if he does not collect the money from them, the corporator will deduct it from his payment. When Deccan Chronicle spoke to the corporator of the area G.N.R. Babu, he denied that money was collected for the work and said that government money is used for civic work and the BWSSB officials are to be blamed if their labourers demand money.

When Deccan Chronicle spoke to the chief engineer of BWSSB, he said he will immediately look into this and solve the issue.  "I do not know if the work was sub-contracted to a third party. I will find out the details and will take action against errant officials," promised Venkataraju, chief engineer, BWSSB. Residents of BTM Layout 2nd stage also complain about the pathetic conditions of the road since the underground drainage work began.