New study warns of water crisis in 80 B'luru wards by Feb 2025, expected to escalate in March-April
Bengaluru: A new study has raised alarms over a looming water crisis in over 80 wards in Bengaluru, especially in its peripheral areas, including K R Puram and Mahadevapura.
The study, conducted by the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and cited by Deccan Herald on Tuesday, revealed that groundwater levels are set to decline as early as February 2025, with conditions expected to worsen further in March and April.
It mentioned that 110 villages located beyond the Outer Ring Road (ORR) are projected to experience a significant drop of 20 to 25 meters in groundwater levels. Although areas within the ORR will also be impacted, they rely less on groundwater due to a more stable supply of piped water.
The 80 wards most at risk depend heavily on borewells to meet their water needs, drawing approximately 800 million litres of water daily. This is due to the BWSSB’s incomplete water distribution network in these regions.
Few of the critical wards include Konankunte, T Dasarahalli, V Nagenahalli, Horamavu, Ramamurthy Nagar, Kammanahalli, Kadugondanahalli and Jakkur.
The urgency of the situation follows last year’s harsh summer, which highlighted the city's growing water scarcity challenges. In response, the BWSSB established a special task force consisting of IISc scientists and officials from both state and central groundwater development departments, DH stated.
Over the course of six months, the task force analysed water supply data and groundwater levels to develop a sustainable action plan to address the crisis.
BWSSB Chairman Dr Ram Prasath Manohar emphasised the importance of reducing reliance on borewells, especially in high-risk wards, and encouraged residents to switch to Cauvery water connections. He mentioned the increased availability of water under the Cauvery Stage V project, DH added.
However, despite these efforts, residents in some areas are still without Cauvery connections due to the lack of feeder and sub-feeder lines.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
