BWSSB needs another 45 days

BANGALORE: The out stretched episodes of sewage water overflowing along with the stench that it carries along, in and around one of the most important roads in the city may finally be over.The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board officials are busy working tediously on replacing the old sanitary pipelines on Richmond Road near Hosmat Circle. In fact one can spot the civic agency’s flexes notifying commuters about the work in progress.This stretch of road has had an unfortunate history. Almost two months ago a part of the road had collapsed. In a report published by City Express, ‘Ten manholes and many more potholes’ on June 17, BWSSB engineer-in-chief T Venkataraju had said that faulty pipelines beneath the road where the sole reason for the incident. A good 20 feet of the road had collapsed, while the traffic flow had to be rerouted.Nazir, the BWSSB executive engineer in charge said that while the route of the sanitary pipeline remains the same, i.e. from Hosmat hospital till Midford Garden, the old pipelines are being replaced by new and wider pipelines. “The total length is 690 metres, we have finished laying almost 350 metres of the new 450mm diametre RCC pipeline. The work will be completed by October 15,” he said.According to the engineer, apart from laying the pipes, the BWSSB is also in the process of constructing more manholes and is refilling land that was excavated to lay the pipeline. When questioned about what about the existing manholes on the road he said, “The BWSSB has only seven or eight manholes on this stretch. The remainder are not ours. They are probably for some cables or wires.” Intriguingly, while the engineer in chief was of the opinion to discontinue some of the manholes on that stretch of road, Nazir says that his men are in the processes of constructing more, ‘where ever required’.Meanwhile, Nazir also said that the new pipeline will solve the problems of all the overflows. “As the diametre of these pipelines is wider, chances of blocks will also reduce. The budget for the entire project is approximately Rs 90 lakh,” he said. Nazir also informed that once the work is over, the BWSSB will also asphalt the areas where the work is under progress. While the work still has another 45 days before its completed, traffic has to resort to finding a diversion. ‘‘I'm hopeful that once the pipelines are replaced, there will be not be anymore overflows in the area," said Anubhav Kumar a resident of Brunton Road.