Kolar pipe bursts again, BMC's swift action prevents water loss

BHOPAL: Timely intervention by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) helped plugged a massive pipeline burst along the retaining wall of the millennia-old Upper Lake. The Kolar supply line had cracked underneath the Kamla Park road and the water outage affected more than 3 lakh people on Sunday.


According to BMC officer Shamim Khan, the pressure of the leak caused the road to cave in during the early hours of Sunday.

Once he alerted BMC officials over the situation, heavy machinery was used to dig the Kamla Park road (for traffic moving towards Reth Ghat). It took over three hours to reach the pipe some 30-feet below. It is a 40-year-old pipeline, which passes beneath the bund. The road underneath was reinforced with a cemented beam during the construction of the BRTS in 2010.

"There was a crack the along main joint ring of the pipeline. We will dry the water in the channel and the pipeline before the issue is fixed," said a BMC official. He admitted that it is the second breach in Kolar pipeline in the area in as many weeks. Late last month, the pipeline near Reth Ghat was found to be leaking and the crack was plugged.

Around 14 MGD of water is supplied through the Kolar pipeline in connected areas, including Ginnori, Shahjehanbad, Chowk Bazaar and other areas. Overall, water supply in 10 wards was impacted on Sunday. Regular water supply is likely to be restored on Monday, said BMC officials.

Old warnings haunt civic body

During construction of the BRTS corridor, no feasibility study was carried out to analyse the impact of the Upper Lake bund. However, a BMC study by CV Kand had found that Kamla Park could not sustain heavy vehicular traffic. It sighted that its foundation is weak owing to a century-old tunnel though which water flowed from the Upper Lake to the Lower Lake. Leakages in the bund have cause pain in the past. The retaining wall of Upper Lake and its surrounding structures was not built to sustain heavy traffic.