Benson Town cries for water

Bengaluru: It’s literally a case of “Water, water everywhere, Nor any drop to drink” in Benson Town and Frazer Town, which have not received Cauvery water for almost 10 days despite the drenching the city has received in heavy rain of late.

Left with no choice, the people of these localities in the heart of Bengaluru are depending on private tankers to supply them water for drinking and cooking, paying between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,200 for a load.

 Mr Joel Samuel, secretary of the Benson Town Residents’ Welfare Association, says the locality, which usually receives Cauvery water once every two days, has not received any supply for almost 10 days now.  “We are depending entirely on water supplied by private tankers although we are not sure of its quality or where it is sourced from,” he laments.

Mr  Samuel adds that when the association complained to the  BWSSB, its engineer claimed there was a problem at the pumping station at T K Halli and the board sent a tanker- load of water as an  alternative  to the locality. "But how can just one tanker meet the needs of  people of an area spread over  2 kms ?" he asks pertinently.

When contacted by the Deccan Chronicle, a BWSSB engineer explained that the water supply to Benson Town was hit due to a problem with the 220 KV potential transformer at Tataguni. “All the Cauvery fifth stage pumps were stopped on October 9 and this could have affected water supply to  Benson Town and nearby areas,” he admitted, adding, “As these areas receive water only on alternate days, if they miss two water cycles , they are deprived of water for four days.  But our board has made arrangements to supply water in tankers to these affected areas.” The engineer assured that Benson Town would soon receive normal water supply.