As Bengaluru’s water shortage worsens, the tech professionals from India’s Silicon Valley have begun temporarily relocating back to their hometowns. Hinting at urban distress, the acute water crisis has made city life unsustainable for its residents.
Bengaluru’s tech professionals are seeking refuge in their hometowns.
According to a Deccan Herald (DH) report, IT professionals working at multinational companies have been moving back to their hometowns.
Citing the example of Sumantha, a resident of Bengaluru’s Ayyappa Nagar, the DH report stated that Sumantha and his wife faced severe shortages of water, even though they paid hefty rent.
Sumantha told DH that despite this, they are paying a monthly rent of 25,000 for a flat they do not currently reside in.
Sumantha stated that due to the office’s no work from home policy, he must occasionally stay with his friends in South Bengaluru to attend office meetings. The water situation is less severe in the southern area of Bengaluru.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is also in charge of Bengaluru development, has attributed the crisis to the malfunctioning of 6,900 out of 13,900 borewells in the city.
Another technician, Anita Srinivas, opted to move out permanently. She has shifted to her second home, Mumbai. “Our dependency on borewells, now dried up, and the wait for water tankers made our situation in Bengaluru untenable,” she told DH.
For residents like Rashmi Ravindran who have relied on borewell water for years, there’s an acute shortage of water, along with tension in the community over the distribution of the scarcely available resource.
Talking to DH, she said that their family has been in Bengaluru for around 15 years and have “never faced such an acute water shortage”.
She said that they depend on borewell water at their Banaswadi home and now it too gives very little water.
“The neighbours have started fighting to get water to their homes and fixing valves in front of their houses. The water flow pressure is so low that nobody gets enough.”
Recently, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had been receiving several requests to make work from home mandatory for IT companies.
Karnataka is facing one of the worst water crises in recent years due to poor rainfall in 2023. The Indian Meteorology Department has attributed the scanty rains to El Nino effect.
On Monday, Shivakumar said that the state has not witnessed such a severe drought in the past three-four decades, and the next two months are “very important”.
DK Shivakumar says worst drought in 4 decades
The Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka has emphasized the unprecedented scale of the drought that Bengaluru is currently encountering. Efforts are being made to provide water supply to the affected areas, with measures being taken against the water mafia in the city.
He emphasized that the next two months are crucial for managing the crisis and ensuring water supply for citizens. Measures have been taken to control the activities of the water gang in the city.
“In the last 30-40 years we had not seen such drought; though there was drought earlier we had never declared such a large number of taluks as drought-affected,” Shivakumar told reporters.
In Bengaluru, there is a need for the supply of Cauvery river water, and efforts are being made to meet the demand. A significant number of borewells, approximately 6,900 out of 13,900, have stopped working.
“So to control the situation, we have arranged for tankers to supply water. Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) are making all efforts in this regard,” he added.
To mitigate the situation, tankers are being used to transport water. This endeavor is being actively supported by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). 223 of 240 taluks in Karnataka have been declared drought, with 196 of them being severely affected.
Shivakumar accused the opposition parties of politicizing the issue and assured that the administration is taking action against the water ‘mafia’. Private borewells are being utilized, and water tankers’ rates are determined by the distance traveled.
A separate online system has been implemented for this and officials have been appointed to oversee it.
Stating that the next two months are very important, Shivakumar, who is also the Water Resources Minister, said the priority is to ensure that there is no wastage of water.
“By implementing) Cauvery fifth stage (project) — we will make all efforts to provide Cauvery water to 110 villages (around Bengaluru) at the earliest by May last week,” he said.
To control the water “mafia”, more than 1,500 private water tankers have registered so far and time has been extended for others also to register till March 15, Shivakumar further said. Police, Regional Transport Office (RTO), BBMP and BWSSB will monitor it and there will be a board with registration number on tankers.
Operating illegally and charging exorbitantly Rs 5,000 or 6,000 (per tanker of water) are things that are happening. To control, its price has been fixed based on the distance travelled,” he noted.
In Bengaluru, Ramanagara, Magadi, Doddaballapura, Hoskote and surrounding areas, there are irrigation borewells, he said, adding that “we have taken a count of them, to draw water from there if an emergency situation arises.”