'Ingu Gundi' to increase ground water level in Basavanagudi

Bengaluru: Despite torrential rains in the city, the ground water level is not rising. In this background, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) is interested in the implementation of Ingu Gundi construction and other water restroration projects. A model ground water recharge project is being implemented at cost of Rs 8.79 crore in Basavanagudi assembly constituency.

The city receives an annual rainfall of 900 mm. If this water is stored, half of the drinking water problem will be solved. Dependence on Cauvery water will also be avoided. However, in most parts of the Bengaluru, asphalt and concrete roads can be seen along with buildings. Therefore the rainwater is not stored. Meanwhile, mandatory implementation of rainwater harvesting is also difficult. In this background, BBMP has taken interest in the groundwater recharge project. Rs 2.41 crore for Ingu Gundis

In six wards of Basavanagudi Assembly Constituency, the construction work of sewerage, concrete road and Ingu Gundis is being taken up and tenders have been invited in this regard. It is intended to construct rainwater restoration pits at many places including Jinke Park, Srikantheshwar Park, Kempegowda Playground, Rajiv Gandhi Stadium, Madduramma ground. For this, out of Rs 8.79 crore, Rs 2.41 crore is being spent.

Around 29 parks and eight grounds in Basavanagudi constituencies are being used to construct underground recharge water. Apart from this, a plan has been made to allow the rainwater to go down into the earth through Ingu Gundis in the newly constructed concrete road and drains. A tender has been invited for the construction of a total of 75 borewells.

A total of Rs 3.14 crore is being spent for the construction of 14034.80 meter long drain and Rs 3.23 crore for 3402 meter long concrete road. Drainage and concrete roads are also being constructed with Ingu Gundi. It has been decided to use tube well drilling machines to drill the earth to a depth of 450 feet and install pipes to recharge the ground water. Gravel and sand are placed on the top of those pipes so that the rain water seeps into the earth.

When it rains heavily in the city, large floods are created in many places. All the layouts in the low lying areas become islands and all the roads are like streams. Bengaluru has 842 km long Rajakaluves. Over 33,680 Ingu Gundi's can be constructed one every 25 meters. This will remove the threat of floods on the one hand and on the other hand the ground water level will increase. It does not mean that no efforts have been made in the corporation to collect rain water. Many years ago, the project of construction of Ingu Gundi's in the corporation buildings, gardens and grounds was initiated. During that period, about a thousand Ingu Gundi's were constructed in several gardens. However, water is not reaching the land due to lack of maintenance.

Ingu Gundi's have not been constructed as much as the number of borewells drilled by BBMP. There are more than 4 lakh tubewells in the city, half of which have failed. They don't need to spend much to recharge water in them. But, that work was not done.

A total of 1730 Ingu Gundi's have been constructed in Yediyur Ward in rain water sub-canals, playgrounds and gardens. There are also eight Ingu Gundi's in Ranadheera Kanteerava Garden. These pits are each five feet long, wide and 16 feet deep. If there is an average rain, 3.74 lakh liters of rain water is collected in this ward.