Borewells have become a bane to the residents of Harohalli on the outskirts of Bengaluru as water tankers make hundreds of trips to quench the city’s thirst, leaving nothing for the villagers.
Published Sep 16, 2024 | 1:00 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 25, 2024 | 7:31 PM
Residents watch one of many water tankers that crisscross Harohalli, rural Bengaluru
Do people in some parts of Bengaluru — like Whitefield, Marathahalli, and surrounding areas — know the source of their water? A majority, who depend on water tankers, have no idea of the source.
Nearly 60 percent of the city with a 14 million population rely on Cauvery water and the remaining 40 percent on groundwater. But the summer of 2024 was harsh and tossed Bengaluru into the vortex of a crisis.
According to data, more than half of its 14,000 public borewells went dry. Outlying areas that depended on water takers that sourced water from borewells had nowhere to go. For a few months, life was difficult for them. The city had faced a shortfall of 300-400 million litres a day (MLD).
One of the borewells in Harohalli that’s gone dry
After witnessing hundreds of water tankers on the roads in Whitefield and its surrounding areas, South First decided to investigate where they came from.
From the Whitefield main road, we took the Immadihalli route. Immadihalli is a suburb situated in the eastern periphery of the city and is a part of the Whitefield township.
Beyond Immadihalli and around 10-odd km from Whitefield is our destination, Harohalli. It is one such village from where water tankers ply on the roads day and night supplying drinking water to a thirsty Bengaluru.
Distance between Harohalli and Whitefield
All through our journey, we came across water tankers and every few kilometres, a water filling station.
Harohalli has more than 15 borewell filling points and people from the Gram Panchayat told us that an average of 400 trips are made daily.
The road in many places is not asphalted and there is dust constantly hanging in the air.
Borewell recharge point where water is pumped into these makeshift water storage tanks and then pumped into the water tanker
This constant water suction from borewells has had a terrible impact on the lives of the villagers. Before 2020, before this began, they used to get daily water from a panchayat-dug borewell. But today, due to the large number of borewells, the panchayat had to dig another borewell, and villagers are supplied water once a week. Many have even used water tankers filling up from their village to fill their sumps.
“People keep asking us for water and we take the matter to the panchayat office. The officials tell us that money has already been spent to dig two borewells. There was water for two days and then it stopped. The officials tell us they cannot dig another after spending ₹3 lakh,” Gram Panchayat President Anita Manjunath told South First.
“We told them that they need to do something to help us. When the MLA came here, he said, ‘You also go to the city, you go there to sell your produce, there is no water for the people there and hence we need to support each other.’ I asked him if the villagers should die so that the city people would survive,” she added.
South First met a few residents of Harohalli village, from where water is being supplied to many areas in Bengaluru
Another resident complained that women suffer the worst. They do not have sufficient water in their fields and homes. “We have to buy water from the people in our village by paying ₹500-550 for a tractor-sized water tanker,” she said.
The village never had water issues earlier before this illegal business. The women met the MLA and informed him about their problems some three to four months ago.
“We told the MLA that it is getting difficult for us and to stop this water tanker business. He said that he would do something but nothing happened. Women also cannot ride on these roads. It is very dangerous,” she added.
Babu Reddy, a former gram panchayat president, said the problem began in 2020 when two companies were permitted to take water from two borewell points. The villagers protested and got a stay order from the high court. The case is still pending since no government official attended the hearings, he said.
“We are just a kilometre from the BBMP limits. All the areas there have no water and their borewells have gone dry. So, on any given day, some 400-500 trips are taken day and night. You would have seen how bad our roads are due to this heavy traffic. They supply water to apartments in Bellandur, ITPL, Marathahalli, and more. A few weeks ago, an accident took place. A small child was killed and his father lost his legs,” Babu said.
A 60-year-old resident brought the entire issue out when asked if he would comment on the issue. “The government is not doing anything. We do not know what the MLA is doing. First, the villagers must have water. Farmers must get the first right. Why are they making this commercial? They supply water to the city and farmers have no other option but to drink poison and die,” he said.
On 7 January, youngsters decided to do something about the water shortage. They asked the borewell owners to meet the villagers and help them. “They did not attend the meeting and we then blocked the road. The police arrived and pushed us to the side and allowed the water tankers to proceed. We got no justice,” Maruthi Prasad, a youngster who tried to save his village from going dry, said.
Villagers protest in Harohalli
Sandeep Anirudhan, Convener of Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, who accompanied South First said that people have been water illiterate since the time they began receiving piped water and this ignorance made them not care about the source of water.
“Half of Bengaluru is today depending on water tankers. They come from surrounding areas of the city. If you travel out of the city, the edge of BBMP areas, you will find the greenbelt areas. You will keep seeing these water-filling points and the damage they are doing to those villages and their farming and water security. Nobody is questioning since they are not aware. These are happening right in front of our eyes,” he lamented.
“The district commissioner has worked on this matter. A task force has been set up with the DC, Inspector, a Geologist to ensure that there is no exploitation of water. With the AEE of BESCOM involved, illegal electricity connections will be cut off and water will be used for the intended commercial purpose. Agricultural water will be used for irrigating the fields and the rest will not be allowed for this tanker business,” Hosakote MLA Sharath Kumar Bache Gowda said.
But he added that a balance should be struck between protecting the interests of the villagers and also looking at the interests of people who are in Bengaluru, which is logical and the exploitation of water would be controlled.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
