Chetana Belagere By

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Water crisis has forced a family to move out of Bengaluru. This is just a grim reminder of the severity of the situation in the city which is gradually going the Cape Town way. The family, which was staying in Hosahalli Extension in Vijayanagara, moved to a relative’s house in Mysuru after they struggled to get water even to bathe their newborn baby.

“It was extremely difficult to manage. Just a few days before my granddaughter was born, the water shortage began in our area. We were totally dependent on tanker water, supply of which was also erratic. With no other option left, we had to leave Bengaluru,” said Nagendra Rao, assistant general manager of a nationalised bank.

After the delivery, his daughter, a professor at a private college, came home with her baby. But it became extremely difficult to manage without water especially with bathing the newborn and the young mother.

“This wasn’t the situation last year or before that. We rented this house as the water facility in this area was reasonably good. But this year it has turned horrible. As per our tradition, we are expected to give good hot oil bath to the newborn baby and the mother. But forget bathing, we didn’t even have water to use in the washroom,” Vijaya Kumari, the baby’s grandmother said.

Tired of ordering tanker water which had proved a costly affair, the family decided to move to Mysuru where their relatives agreed to house them for the next few months. “We are not coming back at least till the summer is over,” said Nagendra Rao.

It is not just this family which is facing such acute problems. Several other residences in this area are suffering the same crisis for almost 15 days. “We get water supply from the BWSSB every alternate day. In the last week of March and first week of April, there was absolutely no water supply. We initially thought it was temporary and we could manage, but the situation only turned from bad to worse,” said Rajashree MN, a resident of the area.

Admitting that there was a major water crisis in the entire Vijayanagar area for almost 15 days, Shivaram SG, Assistant Executive Engineer, West 1 sub-division, told The New Indian Express, “Yes, there was a major water crisis in the area. Almost three to four supplies were hit. We found that there was something stuck in the pipelines and water was not reaching the area. Meanwhile, water consumption of houses with borewells had also gone up due to summer, leaving the area with almost no water for 15 days.”

However, the officer said the issue is being resolved. “At many places the water supply has been regularised,” he claimed. He further said, “People also have realised the importance of saving water. If we don’t save by consuming less water, it will be extremely difficult for people in Bengaluru to survive.”