TNN

Bangalore, Jan 24: Senior citizens took a ‘bath' at 3 pm on Wednesday at the Government Arts and Science College grounds. S Lakshmanan, K Chakrapani and H R Gopalakrishna enacted this scene to draw BWSSB's attention to the plight of citizens who don't have access to water for days on end.

These men are members of Ramamurthynagar Welfare Association, which wanted to attract the attention of BWSSB and demanded that water be supplied at the earliest.

"Though Greater Bangalore Water Supply charges were paid 3 years ago, we're yet to receive water in our taps. Even an year after the formation of Greater Bangalore, residents here have been facing acute shortage of water," said members. Now, residents are forced to purchase water from tankers and drink packaged water, they added.

The protesters urged BWSSB to drop the penalty of Rs 100 per month, which is being levied from 2004 on defaulters of GBWASP charges.

A resident of Pai Layout, K Jayarama, said BWSSB engineers have been fleecing the residents by charging user contribution at 10% on the cost. That apart, engineers have been collecting Rs 2,000 for inspecting the house to levy prorata charges.

Exorbitant road-cutting charges have also been collected from individual house and flat owners. Instead of collecting road-cutting charges individually, it can be collected as a whole from residents, the members complained.