Bengaluru Water Tariff Hike Likely, Decision Pending

Bengaluru: “The hike in water tariff is imminent for Bengaluru residents,” said Deputy Chief Minister Minister and Bengaluru city incharge D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday. However, a decision on the amount to be hiked is yet to be decided.

He told reporters in Bengaluru that considering water tariff has not been increased in Bengaluru city for about 13 years and owing to non-revision of water tariff, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has been facing problems such as salaries for the staff, clearing power bills among others.

“If not hiked, the chances of BWSSB survival is bleak,” stated the Bengaluru city incharge Minister and asserted he won’t succumb to protests by opposition party leaders on water tariff hike. But welcomed discussions on water hike.

He cited Bengaluru’s population is about 1.4 crore and the water supply network has to be expanded at any cost otherwise water supply to the residents will be a difficult task. “We have no option but to avail loans to expand the water supply network in Bengaluru city,” he said.

In reply to a question, he ruled out privatization of water supply and pointed out the privatization of water supply was discussed during the tenure of J.H. Patel was the Chief Minister and later on during the term of S.M. Krishna as the Chief Minister (1999-2004).

“I as Minister of Urban Development toured France among other countries to study privatization of water supply in those countries and found our engineers are handling the water supply in a better way than in some of the foreign countries. The findings of my tour were brought to the notice of then Chief Minister S.M. Krishna,” said the Minister and stated then the idea of privatization was dropped after protests erupted.

To address water supply demands of Bengaluru city, he said “Some have submitted reports to draw water from Krishna Raja Sagar reservoir in Srirangapatna taluk to Bengaluru city directly and there are plans to get water from River Sharavathy in Shivamogga district, about 350-km from Bengaluru city. But, drawing water from River Sharavathi has been opposed by locals.”