BANGALORE: The growing water crisis in Bangalore took another form with residents of Bommanahalli taking to the streets.

Nearly two lakh people residing in different areas in Bommanahalli zone of BBMP such as Hongasandra, Chikkanahalli, Billekahlli, Garvebhavipalya, Vajpayeenagar and Shanthi Layout, had not received water for the last few months.

To have the authorities pay heed to their grievances, the residents under the banner of Nagarilka Hitarakshana Vedike held up traffic on the busy Hosur Road for about 40 minutes, Lingaraju, member of the vedike, told The Hindu . "We have been reduced to standing around as beggars and waiting for water late into the night. But it has not come for the past three months now," said Gladys Perriera, a resident of Vajpayee Nagar and member of Democratic Youth Forum of India (DYFI).

As such, residents are forced to buy water from private tankers at exorbitant costs, sometimes up to Rs. 400 a tanker.

At times of high demand, water tankers take four days to provide water to a household.

The poor are hit the hardest, with one pot of drinking water costing them a minimum of Rs. 2.

According to Mr. Lingaraju, the erstwhile Bommanahalli City Municipal Council (CMC) used to provide water to the residents through borewells it had dug. But indiscriminate drilling of borewells by private water suppliers reduced the availability in the CMC's borewells, he said.

"Many private water suppliers have drilled borewells up to 1,000 feet while most CMC borewells are about 300 to 500 feet deep," he said.

Ms. Pereira alleged that even the borewells had been sunk in an unscientific manner.

"There are no experts to stand around and guide the workers when they are digging. So most times, they just finish work half way through and leave stating unavailability of water," she said.

Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike Joint Commissioner (Bommanahalli) Venkat Raman Nayak told The Hindu that of the 33 borewells in the zone, four had failed. "But we have acceded to their demands and have decided to dig more borewells and clean the existing ones," he said.

Potable water would be supplied to areas through tankers. "To ensure that the supply is efficient, we will ask the water suppliers to get signatures from residents ascertaining that they have received water," Mr. Nayak said.

About supply of Cauvery water to the area as demanded by some residents, he said that while pipelines had been laid as part of the Greater Bangalore Water Supply and Sanitation Project (GBWASP), supplying water would take some more months.

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