Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike preaches rainwater harvesting but won’t practise it
, ET Bureau|
Jan 23, 2018, 03.32 PM IST
BENGALURU: Neither the threat of water scarcity every summer nor the fast-depleting water table can move the city's administrators into action. It seems so considering how the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has paid scant attention to rainwater harvesting (RWH) in the 1,146 public parks and several open spaces it administers in the city.
While it is mandatory for residential and commercial structures (built on an area above 1,200 sqft) to have RWH, thousands of acres of parks and open spaces — which can harvest rainwater and recharge groundwater — remain unexploited.
Although the BBMP claims that it has implemented RWH in "most of the parks," it has no data to prove it.
ST Bed resident welfare association's secretary Dr Prakash Reddy said: "The locality is on a tank bed and generally has a better water table. We have been demanding RWH in our parks and public places anticipating water issues in the future."
Sudhindra SG of Prashanth Nagar pointed out that there is no RWH in his locality's parks either. "We did not find the need to insist on RWH since the soil is exposed (which allows rainwater seepage)", he said.
In Koramangala 3rd Block, citizen activism has ensured that RWH systems are installed in their parks and open spaces. Nitin Seshadri, a welfare activist, said RWH was implemented in all parks and playgrounds in the locality because of citizens' pressure.
Four years ago, Ravindranath Guru, managing trustee of Kriya Katte, a senior citizens' forum, raised questions about the quality of
RWH developed by BBMP. In a series of RTI queries he filed in 2014, Guru gathered how the BBMP was bloating the estimates for rainwater harvesting projects but was carrying out poor quality work.
It was following his complaint regarding shoddy work in the Ganesh Mandir ward that the BBMP's Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) inspected the projects and observed that the quality of work including intervals of RWH, construction of pits and inlets of RWH pits was flawed. "The RWH project in BBMP is nothing but a scam. The contractors and officials who are hand in glove give bloated figures and do shoddy job which does not really help in arresting the rainwater," Guru said.
The executive engineers ET spoke to in BBMP said RWH projects have not been taken up for the past 2-3 years. "This year, the mayor has directed us to include RWH in the programme of works, and hopefully, we will get some funds in the budget too," said Mohan Gowda, EE of Sarvajna Nagar. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said: "It is not yet a policy to mandatorily implement RWH in parks and open places but we are on it."
While it is mandatory for residential and commercial structures (built on an area above 1,200 sqft) to have RWH, thousands of acres of parks and open spaces — which can harvest rainwater and recharge groundwater — remain unexploited.
Although the BBMP claims that it has implemented RWH in "most of the parks," it has no data to prove it.
ST Bed resident welfare association's secretary Dr Prakash Reddy said: "The locality is on a tank bed and generally has a better water table. We have been demanding RWH in our parks and public places anticipating water issues in the future."
Sudhindra SG of Prashanth Nagar pointed out that there is no RWH in his locality's parks either. "We did not find the need to insist on RWH since the soil is exposed (which allows rainwater seepage)", he said.
In Koramangala 3rd Block, citizen activism has ensured that RWH systems are installed in their parks and open spaces. Nitin Seshadri, a welfare activist, said RWH was implemented in all parks and playgrounds in the locality because of citizens' pressure.
Four years ago, Ravindranath Guru, managing trustee of Kriya Katte, a senior citizens' forum, raised questions about the quality of
RWH developed by BBMP. In a series of RTI queries he filed in 2014, Guru gathered how the BBMP was bloating the estimates for rainwater harvesting projects but was carrying out poor quality work.
It was following his complaint regarding shoddy work in the Ganesh Mandir ward that the BBMP's Technical Vigilance Cell under Commissioner (TVCC) inspected the projects and observed that the quality of work including intervals of RWH, construction of pits and inlets of RWH pits was flawed. "The RWH project in BBMP is nothing but a scam. The contractors and officials who are hand in glove give bloated figures and do shoddy job which does not really help in arresting the rainwater," Guru said.
The executive engineers ET spoke to in BBMP said RWH projects have not been taken up for the past 2-3 years. "This year, the mayor has directed us to include RWH in the programme of works, and hopefully, we will get some funds in the budget too," said Mohan Gowda, EE of Sarvajna Nagar. BBMP Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said: "It is not yet a policy to mandatorily implement RWH in parks and open places but we are on it."
