Click to play videoBangalore: Offices and newly constructed homes in the city are now forced to fall back on water tankers and rain harvesting as the City Water Supply Board says there is no water for new apartments and offices.
Katta Subramanya Naidu, Minister for Bangalore Water Supply Board, said, "We're not in a position to supply water to complexes and multi-storeyed buildings till 2011, November, December. We're not in a position to give connections to new buildings."
It's an announcement that could curb IT city's fast paced growth. The government says new apartments and complexes simply won't get new water connections till the Cauvery Stage Four supply project is completed by the end of 2011. Realtors like Farook Mahmood are crying foul.
Farook Mahmood, Founder of National Association of Realtors, says, "I think it's homes. People who're getting into small homes, their first homes, are going to suffer."
Irshad Ahmed, Secretary, Bangalore Realtors' Association, says, "How can we say the building is ready but we cannot give you the amenities. The basic is electricity and water. If that is not given, the buildings will be ghost-towns."
There are already a few hundred projects under construction, several nearing completion. But the government says it has no choice.
Naidu said further, "They have to wait. There is no alternative for us. Let them get rain water harvesting and borewells for the time being."
Many apartments already depend on borewells and tankers as the city water board only supplies water twice a week. Very soon you may see apartment-owners in elite areas lining up for water tankers too.
Irshad Ahmed, Secretary of Bangalore Realtors' Association, says, "Straightaway, there is going to be a lot of impact on this and if this thing can happen it can really affect the real estate industry. People will look at other avenues down South."
Builders say it's the government's short-sightedness that's led to this crisis. That the government always seems to be planning 10 years behind schedule for a city that's growing so fast and so far. If only this water problem had been foreseen five years back, the water supply project could've been sped up, and construction could've been restricted.
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