Citizens feel the pinch as BWSSB seals off public taps in Bengaluru's Jogupalya ward

BENGALURU: Last week, a team of BWSSB personnel sealed off multiple public taps in Jogupalya ward (No. 89) in east Bengaluru. When residents enquired, the personnel said they had orders from the top.
TOI later found this exercise has been going on for a while now and that BWSSB has even prepared a list of public taps which it wants to seal off. As of February-end, the board had identified 2,949 public taps which will be removed.
The move is being criticised by activists and several citizens since they feel it will deprive water to the city’s economically weaker sections and render them a financial blow.
BWSSB, based on its own survey and information from the public, had identified 2,808 taps in 2018. The figure jumped to 2,907 in 2019, remaining nearly the same (2,908) in 2020. By the end of 2021, it touched to around 2,800 before crossing the 2,900 mark this year. “The numbers will vary as identifying such taps is a continuous process,” one official said.
BWSSB, sources said, has been carrying out the exercise to encourage more people to get individual connections, which come at a cost.
Vinay Sreenivasa, an advocate working with economically weaker sections and member of street vendors’ association, said: “...It is not just street vendors, there are a lot of people in this city such as pourakarmikas, delivery personnel and hawkers who spend most of their day on the road. They cannot afford to spend money to buy water; public taps are their only source of potable water.”
“BWSSB has been removing taps for nearly 15 years now; many have already been closed and it won’t be long before the remaining ones vanish,” he added.
BWSSB officials, though, argue that the board has provided 1 lakh free connections in slum areas as well as SC/ST colonies. “BWSSB is not a profit-making organisation but a service providing one. We have been removing public taps as and when the area is ready to get individual connections or has already been given an individual one, and this has been happening for years,” said a senior official.
Vinay countered the argument saying water is a basic necessity and BWSSB doesn’t appear to be comprehending this.
The senior official added: “BWSSB brings water into the city from nearly 100km away and it takes a lot of effort. We are also helpless as revenue for using these taps was earlier taken care of by BBMP, but that is no longer the arrangement. If people want to use it, they will have to pay for it. For instance, if street vendors are using it, their association ought to pay for it.”