Bogadi Town Panchayat plans to connect overhead tanks to neighbouring Cauvery Nagar layout

Mysuru: Residents of Roopanagar have objected to the Bogadi Town Panchayat’s move to divert drinking water from the layout to neighbouring Cauvery Nagar.

Roopanagar layout was developed in 1990 by Deepa House Building Cooperative Society (DHBCS), about 10-km from Mysuru City Railway Station.

Spread across 260 acres, the layout has around 2,500 sites, 900 houses and over 2,500 residents. After its development, the layout was handed over to the Bogadi Town Panchayat.

The Town Panchayat has now initiated work to connect Roopanagar’s overhead water storage tanks to Cauvery Nagar, adjoining layout with around 70 houses. The layout has 5 overhead tanks and 4 ground-level tanks, including one for Kabini water.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, Roopanagar residents said, they had made arrangements to meet the layout’s water requirements when it was developed, including investing collectively in borewells, water storage facilities and a distribution network.

Water conservation, planning

“We encouraged water conservation measures. Wherever borewells were dug, water-sink pits were created to improve groundwater recharge and enhance water availability. The Bogadi Town Panchayat, on the other hand, has imposed restrictions on sinking new borewells and enforced them on residents,” they said.

They alleged that the developer of Cauvery Nagar had not provided adequate water infrastructure, with only one borewell and no overhead tank. “Despite this, the Bogadi Town Panchayat granted permission for new houses in the layout without ensuring adequate water supply,” they complained.

Residents also alleged that indiscriminate digging of borewells in Cauvery Nagar had contributed to severe water scarcity there.

‘An unjust move’

“We are already facing a shortage of water in Roopanagar. Of the 24 borewells, only 18 are functional, and they are operating at around 50 percent capacity due to depletion of groundwater. At such a critical juncture, the Bogadi Town Panchayat is diverting water from our layout to Cauvery Nagar. How is this justified?” they questioned.

They further alleged that residents had been threatened with the withdrawal of even the basic quantity of Kabini water being supplied to Roopanagar in recent times.

“The Bogadi Town Panchayat should act as a trustee of the water resource, not as its owner. It should be fair to residents who are already facing a shortage instead of using the water from one water-stressed area to address the shortage in another,” they said.

“The administration is obligated to create new water sources wherever there is a shortage rather than depleting the existing supply of a community that has invested in and developed its own water infrastructure,” they added.

Roopanagar residents said that while the layout currently manages to maintain a relatively stable water supply, diverting water from its overhead tanks without creating additional sources could lead to severe water scarcity for its residents in the coming months.