CAG raps BWSSB for waste of a treatment plant

BANGALORE: In a case of ‘putting the cart before a horse’, Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s (BWSSB) Rs 47.5-crore Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) is yet to treat waste water due to lack of sewage input. Yet, Rs 5 crore is spent every year since 2005 to keep it functional.Unearthing the colossal act of improper planning and unfruitful investment by the BWSSB, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), in its 2010 report submitted to the government, recently raps the Board for spending public money irrationally. The BWSSB is spending over Rs 3.04 crore for maintenance and operations and Rs 1.38 crore towards cost of power supply annually.The CAG report revealed that a private agency merely kept the plant operational by drawing water from a channel nearby and releasing the treated water into the same channel defeating the purpose of its construction —to protect environment.Constructed in Kadubisanahalli in the year 2002 to treat 50 MLD of sewage collected from Kaggadasapura, Bairasandra and Aswath Nagar areas, the secondary sewage treatment plant was completed in April 2005 at a cost of Rs 40.02 crore. Meanwhile, the trunk sewer lines were connected only in August 2008 at a cost of Rs 7.03 crore. However, non-completion of the laterals for collecting sewage from the source points to the trunk sewer lines meant that the plant remained non-functional.Meantime, the Board entrusted a private agency to keep the Plant operational until it was able to draw the sewage input in 2006 for a period of three years at a cost of Rs 3.12 crore.Assessing the delay, CAG opined that the Board failed to examine the feasibility of execution of the plant before taking up the WTP project.The Board in its reply stated that due to rapid growth of the city, new private layouts were developed along the original alignment of the trunk sewers which necessitated changes in the alignment and laying of the trunk sewers in difficult terrain. The board further stated that the WTP was kept in good condition by deploying minimum staff and kept only essential equipment operational. However, CAG was not convinced with Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board’s  reply and referred the matter to the State Government.