Karnataka Polls: ‘Smart City’ Belagavi Receives Drinking Water Only Twice a Week

Belagavi: Eight years after having been shortlisted for PM Modi's Smart City project, Belagavi city is receiving the 24/7 supply of drinking water only in 10 out of 58 wards. In other wards, the drinking water is supplied every four days. While the Smart City project was meant to transform the city into a modern metropolis in five years, the residents reported this year waiting for as long as 10 days for the drinking water supply. The reason cited is a decaying pipeline infrastructure which is unreliable and prone to leakage.

In 2021, Larsen and Toubro (L&T) bagged the contract to supply 24/7 drinking water to the rest of the 48 wards. The Rs 804-crore project requires L&T to completely overhaul and replace the rotting pipeline infrastructure. The company will provide operations and maintenance support for 12 years. The scope of work includes metering for one lakh homes. The project has received funding from the World Bank.

The residents of Belagavi are growing increasingly frustrated with the ongoing water problems, which have persisted for several years. However, a large-scale movement for drinking water has not taken root here. Instead, civic activists have taken it upon themselves to find solutions to their problems.

Kiran Nippanikar, 45, an activist and entrepreneur, has started at least two organisations dedicated to the rejuvenation of wells in the city. He has revived two wells and borne expenses out of his own pocket. Speaking to NewsClick, he said, "The crisis started in 2015 when there was a drought in Belgaum (former name of Belagavi). Since then, the groundwater levels have severely dropped. A report from the National Institute of Hydrology (released this year) noted that the urban infrastructure has taken a big toll on the groundwater levels. There is also no rainwater harvesting; so, rainwater flows into the drains. Finally, there is an overexploitation of borewells. All of this has played a role in the crisis."

The drinking water in Belagavi city comes from two main sources – Rakaskop and Hidkal reservoirs. When there is a shortage of rainfall, there is a chain of events, which results in less water being discharged into the Laxmi Tek water treatment plant and subsequently, lesser water released into the homes of Belagavi.

In 2015, Nippanikar began the work of rejuvenating lakes in the city. So far, he has rejuvenated two of them at the cost of around Rs 2 lakh each.

The L&T project

Ashok Burkule, 50, is an executive engineer at the Belagavi City Corporation. He works for the 24/7 water supply department in the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC). He spoke to NewsClick about the scope of Larsen and Toubro's contract. He says, "In 48 wards, the PVC pipes are old. There is a lot of water wastage owing to leaks. The entire pipeline infrastructure has to be replaced with High Density Polyethylene Pipes (HDPE). In 2021, L&T received a work order for a Rs 804 crore project to completely overhaul the system. Out of this, around 72% or Rs 571 crores will be spent on capex (capital expenditure). The balance amount of Rs 233 crore will be spent on operation and maintenance. It is a 12-year project – five years for construction (of the infrastructure) and seven years of maintenance. They will also have to provide metering for one lakh homes."

The new infrastructure will be a massive underground spiderweb with 900 km of HDPE pipelines. Outside of this, the company will also construct 16 overhead tanks (for storage) and a new water treatment plant. If successful, it could be the end of Belagavi city's drinking water woes.

At the same time, the privatisation of an essential service is an imminent risk to residents of slums and low-income households. High, unregulated tariffs could exclude them from receiving the benefits of 24/7 drinking water.

Several locals said that 24/7 water supply would provide one other benefit – water conservation. Presently, when the water arrives once a week, the residents draw more drinking water than they require. They store this water in large drums. When fresh water arrives the next week, they spill the "stale" drinking water down the drain. It is a mind-boggling waste of water in a city reeling under a water crisis.

Assembly Polls

The Belagavi city has two Assembly constituencies – Belgaum Uttar and Belgaum Dakshin.

Rajkumar Topannavar, 45, a journalist and a former BJP district president, questioned the lack of coordination between civic agencies. He is now the Aam Aadmi Party (aap) candidate from Belgaum Uttar constituency. NewsClick caught up with him during his lunch break during the campaigning.

Topannavar said that he quit the BJP-RSS combine when he “sensed a general hatred for Lingayats within the organisation”.

He says, "PWD, Belgaum Smart City project, the city municipal corporation and Belgaum Urban Development Authority are the four agencies which were building roads in Belgaum. They have not coordinated with the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB). Recently, several roads were rebuilt in Belgaum using the Smart City funds. About Rs 600 crore out of 1,000 crore were spent on roads. This is a foolish expenditure because now they will have to break up all the roads to lay the new pipelines (for the L&T project)."

Topannavar runs a Kannada newspaper called Kannadamma (Mother Kannada) and a television news channel called KNN City News. He hopes to challenge the old guard for the Belgaum Uttar seat. The Indian National Congress (INC) has fielded Asif Sait who is one of the two Muslim candidates from the constituency. The BJP has fielded a Lingayat candidate – Dr. Ravi Patil. Topannavar has filed complaints against Patil for multiple violations of the model code of conduct including campaigning inside a temple. Also in the fray is Amar Yallurakar, a candidate from the separatist organisation, Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES).

Being a border district, the region comprises both Marathi and Kannada speakers. The locals say that Lingayats, Marathas and Muslims will decide the fate of the candidates in the city. This time, it's a close race and the MES could spoil the BJP candidates' chances of winning. In Belgaum Dakshin, the MES candidate, Ramakant Konduskar, has been campaigning on the twin platforms of Marathi pride and Hindutva. Some believe that this has led to the space for the BJP candidate, Abhay Patil, shrinking. He is the sitting MLA in the Belgaum Dakshin constituency, but is expected to retain his seat. However, the BJP candidate in the Uttar seat faces a bigger problem.

Kiran Nippanikar believes that INC's Asif Sait already has an advantage. He says, "There is no other Muslim candidate in the fray for the Belgaum Uttar seat (there is one Independent candidate). The community votes will not be split. The MES will draw Marathi votes and Topannavar will draw some Lingayat votes. It will be a very interesting fight this time. However, none of the candidates are raising people's issues like education or crime. Are we investing in children? Recently, a standard IX child was raped by her classmate. They were both expelled and the matter was hushed up because the boy is from an influential family. There is also an issue of drug usage among school children. Nobody is talking about this. Even the people are quiet. It seems there is a high level of apathy this time."