“I’ve seen tiny black worms in this water whenever we store it. But since we don’t have any other source, I strain and boil the water before use,” said Tulasi, mother of two, tediously filling her buckets with Cauvery water from the common tap in Vinayakanagara slum, TC Palya. She stores a drum of water for a week despite her doctor warning her not to store water for more than four days. “What option do I have? We get Cauvery water only once a week for three hours. We get muddy borewell water twice weekly, which we use for non-drinking purposes,” she says.
Vinayakanagara slum is “undeclared” or not recognised by the Karnataka Slum Development Board (KSDB). KSDB has declared only 413 slums in Bengaluru, a fraction of the actual number. A 2018 study by Duke University had identified over 2,000 slums in the city using satellite imaging.
[Part 1 of this series showed that Bengaluru’s ‘declared’ or recognised slums hardly benefit from Cauvery connections. In Part 2, we explore how the residents of undeclared slums get their water.]
Undeclared slums rely on common taps, neighbours
Tulasi and her family have been living in Vinayakanagara for 25 years now, and still believe they cannot rightfully ask for water. “We don’t pay for the Cauvery connection. Whenever the neighbouring (pucca) houses receive water, we get some of it through our common tap since it’s the same connection. How can I complain when I’m at least getting this much?” asked Tulasi. The neighbouring houses use motors to draw Cauvery water, leaving little for the slum’s common tap.
“Children keep falling sick because of the water. But it’s okay if we compromise on a few facilities sometimes,” said Naganna, another resident of Vinayakanagara.
Generally, undeclared slums are kuccha houses built using tin sheets. Residents either use common taps that supply borewell or Cauvery water, or rely on the kindness of neighbours. They depend on water ATMs only if both these options are ruled out.
Anjanamma, who lives in an undeclared slum in Vyalikaval, goes to a nearby declared slum to collect at least two pots of water on alternative days. She pays Rs 50-100 monthly for the water.
All 33 families in this slum have no water source. A semi-functioning common Cauvery tap nearby went dry three years ago when the pipeline supplying water to it broke. “We asked if the BWSSB can shift the tap closer to our slum after fixing the pipeline. But the pipeline remains busted,” Anjanamma said. The residents now wash their clothes and vessels at the muddy puddle around the broken pipeline.
No set process to declare slums
Under Section 3 of the Karnataka Slum Areas (Improvement and Clearance) Act, 1973, an area can be officially declared a slum if it meets the following criteria:
- Threat to health or safety: The area is a source of danger to the health, safety, or convenience of its residents or its neighborhood due to factors such as being low-lying, insanitary, squalid, overcrowded, or otherwise unsuitable for habitation.
- Unfit buildings for human habitation: Buildings in the area are unfit for human habitation due to issues like dilapidation, overcrowding, faulty arrangement and design, narrowness or faulty arrangement of streets, lack of ventilation, light, sanitation facilities, or any combination of these factors.
Once KSDB declares a slum, it becomes eligible for government schemes such as housing, sanitation, infrastructure projects and rehabilitation programmes. Whereas undeclared slums are informal settlements with no legal documentation, making residents more prone to evictions.
KSDB doesn’t hold routine surveys to spot and delcare slums. “We don’t have a routine process to identify slums. Whenever officials are out on field visits, they identify areas and process the declaration accordingly. It’s mostly the residents who approach us for declaration,” said a KSDB official on condition of anonymity. The discrepancies in data give a free pass to government bodies to overlook the struggles of many Tulasis.
Read more: Costly and scarce: Water access a daily struggle for Bengaluru slum dwellers
While undeclared slum residents struggle, the plight of ‘blue tent’ residents is far worse. These are migrants from the rest of Karnataka or other states who live in tents, and have absolutely no documentation to show they have been residing in Bengaluru. These settlements have no common taps, and residents’ only option is to buy water from neighbours.
No documents, no water for ‘blue tent’ slums
For nearly 15 years, 44 families from Raichur have been living in blue tents on a private land parcel in Nagarbhavi. They are mostly informal workers who clean and fix the city’s footpaths and underground drains. Yet, not one government body has taken note of their existence.
“Don’t bother about us. We keep going back to our native place time and again. We come here for work alone, so it doesn’t matter if we are deprived of a few facilities,” said one of the dwellers, requesting anonymity, fearing eviction if they asked for basic rights. They currently go door-to-door requesting a few pots of water. “Some kind people let us take their water, but many discriminate against us and hurl abuses,” he added.
“Their Aadhaar cards and voter IDs only have Raichur addresses. The Slum Board will not declare this area if they don’t have any Bengaluru-specific document,” explained Sridevi, a member of the activist group Dalit Samara Sene.
“Some sort of documentation to prove they have been residing in Bengaluru all these years is essential to declare the area, though it may not be mentioned as a criterion in the Karnataka Slum Areas (Development) Act,” said a KSDB official on condition of anonymity.
Dwellers of Shambhavinagara, Kasturinagara and Ramabainagara settlements face the same plight. Lingamma, 40, moved to Shambhavinagara nearly a decade ago owing to massive crop loss in her native district Raichur. She now earns Rs 15,000 per month as a manual labourer, but spends substantial amounts to buy water from neighbours. “I try to fill around 25 pots every two days, paying Rs 2 per pot. It’s hard to request water every two days and deal with the house owners’ mood swings,” she said.
“We are not considered equal humans, but mere workers who are here for menial jobs,” said Geeta from Raichur, who has been living in Kasturinagara slum for the past 25 years. Residents here use water from a distant common borewell and water ATMs, and occasionally from neighbouring houses. “Filling up water is a day’s job. I lose a day’s pay just to collect water,” said Lakshmi, another dweller here, who earns Rs 8,000 per month as a domestic help and construction worker. She fills water at least every three days as she has no sumps to store water.
“Blue tents not under our jurisdiction”: BWSSB
According to the BWSSB Public Relations office, ‘blue tent dwellers’ are not their consumer base and hence not under their jurisdiction. However, on a humanitarian basis, they said they could provide water based on residents’ needs.
“These people come from different districts and states to build our city. Is it not our responsibility to take care of them?” asked Tejus Kumar, Convenor at the activist group Slum Janandolana – Karnataka.
Lingamma said she goes back to Raichur to vote every election as she considers it her responsibility. While Aadhaar is a universal document in India and she fulfils her responsibility as a citizen, she wondered how she doesn’t fall under the government’s jurisdiction for her basic right to water.
Not all declared slums get water
Once KSDB declares a slum, residents can legally fight for facilities, irrespective of whether they live in private, BBMP or BDA land. However, residents of some declared slums like Shantinagara, Benniganahalli and Baiyyapanahalli have no water connections. The reason is that these slums are located on prime land whose value has skyrocketed over time.
“As soon as the Slum Board registered Shantinagara slum for declaration, land grabbers got a stay order on it from the court using bogus records,” claimed Ganesh Kolageri, founder of Dalit Samara Sene. Though the court ordered the Slum Board to provide basic facilities to residents, this hasn’t materialised. “We have to go house-to-house begging for two pots of water everyday,” said Surekha, Shantinagara resident.
Pic: Harshitha Padmavinod
The 130-year-old Benniganahalli slum, with 400 families, is located right at the corner of Indiranagar’s 100 Feet Road, which residents believe is the reason no corporator or MLA is assisting them with water or toilet facilities. “We are just an eyesore for them; they would rather get us evicted. We only get Cauvery water after midnight for a few hours,” said Srinivas, Benniganahalli resident. CV Raman Nagar MLA Raghu S refused to comment on the matter.
Activists call for transparency, awareness
“Along with policy changes, we need to push for a water audit on a priority basis. Without knowing how much water is going into each sector, we cannot ensure all sections of society receive their fair share,” said Rajendra Prabhakar, founder of Maarga NGO.
“At the community level, we need to spread awareness to slum residents on how to understand the Slum Act and avail their rightful benefits from government schemes. That way, wherever they are evicted to, they will have the knowledge to act,” said Tejus.