The Hindu : Acute water shortage at Parappana Agrahara jail

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, May 23, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Acute water shortage at Parappana Agrahara jail

By B.S. Ramesh

BANGALORE May 22. A badly laid pipeline and a dispute over payment between the Department of Prisons and the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) have caused acute water shortage at the Parappana Agrahara jail.

The acute water shortage this year has forced the department to look for alternative arrangements. One of the options being explored is installation of a water recycling plant in the jail premises.

The water problem at the jail is not new. The pipeline laid by the BWSSB several years ago cannot carry adequate water as it is defective. The jail authorities are forced to depend on borewells to make up for the shortfall in supply of water.

The sprawling open-air jail at Parappana Agrahara near Koramangala has more than 3,000 inmates, including undertrials, at any given time. Apart from prisoners, there are nearly 300 members of staff who are in charge of security and upkeep of the premises. Besides, hundreds of relatives and friends of prisoners and scores of lawyers visit the jail. The prison, on an average, needs at least 30,000 gallons of water daily.

The water crisis, which has been severe in the past few months, has worsened as supply in the pipeline has come down substantially. Although the BWSSB maintains that it has been releasing enough water in the pipeline, the Director-General of Police and Inspector-General of Prisons, Krishnamurthy, says adequate water does not reach the jail due to the leakages in the pipeline.

He says the Department of Prisons released Rs. 45 lakh to the BWSSB in 1992 for laying a pipeline. This was part of Rs. 5 crore released to the BWSSB by several organisations located in Electronics City, Parappana Agrahara, Veerasandra, and surrounding areas.

The BWSSB entrusted the work of laying the pipeline to a private contractor. The contractor used pre-stressed concrete pipes instead of steel pipes, and the pipeline has developed leakages. Much of the water pumped by the BWSSB from BTM Layout is wasted.

Following the shifting of the Central Jail to Parappana Agrahara a year ago, the water shortage worsened. The prison authorities wrote to the BWSSB asking them to lay a new pipeline. The board replied that it the Rs. 45 lakh released to it had been utilised, and the jail authorities would have to pay an additional Rs. 33 lakh.

Dr. Krishnamurthy says the Department of Prisons cannot release additional funds. He has repeatedly taken up the matter with the BWSSB, and though senior officials of the board are sympathetic, they are helpless as the pipeline is defective. Due to the water scarcity, it is not possible to maintain hygiene in the premises. The supply of water to inmates for bathing has come down drastically, and their demand to maintain a minimum quantity of water daily has put the prison administration in a quandary.

The administration has been transporting water in tankers, and hopes that once a water recycling plant is set up, the water can be used for gardening and cleaning.

The BWSSB maintains that it is pumping 21 lakh litres of water everyday to the prison, and that the massive leakages are causing the shortfall. It claims to have taken up frequent repairs of the pipeline. According to it, water supply to Parappana Agrahara, Veerasandra, Electronics City, and surrounding areas will improve after the ground-level reservoir at Veerasandra is commissioned in a few months.

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