Bengaluru: The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which has launched a drive against water misuse, illegal connections and pending bills, has continued inspections across the city through its special task force “Blue Force.”

During the last five months, officials inspected 54,625 buildings and disconnected 11,217 illegal connections for violating rules.

According to the board, the operation helped save nearly 1,000 million litres of drinking water. The board also earned an additional revenue of Rs 55 crore through pro-rata charges and water usage value.

Physical inspections were carried out across all four city zones — North, East, West and South. Of the total illegal connections disconnected, 9,751 were drinking water connections and 1,466 were sewerage connections.

The East Zone recorded the highest number of disconnections with 3,151 illegal connections cut off. In the South Zone, officials inspected the highest number of buildings, with 13,908 properties physically checked.

The board said it collected nearly Rs 50 crore as pro-rata charges during the operation. Strict action taken by the Blue Force team against illegal water connections and misuse has also helped prevent large-scale water leakage in the city.

Officials stated that around 210 million litres of treated drinking water are now being saved every month due to the operation.

Overall, around 1,000 million litres of water that was earlier being used illegally has now been brought under the board’s official billing system. This is helping the board generate nearly Rs 5 crore in additional revenue every month.

Speaking about the operation, BWSSB Chairman Ram Prasath Manohar said that under the guidance of Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar, the board’s priority is to provide proper drinking water and better sewerage facilities to every citizen in Bengaluru.

He said illegal water usage and unauthorised sewerage connections increase pressure on the board’s infrastructure and affect its efforts to keep the city clean and provide quality services.

He added that the Blue Force team is taking strict action against all illegal drinking water and sewerage connections without any leniency. The chairman also urged the public to obtain official Cauvery water and sewerage connections to improve the efficiency of the board and help provide better civic services under the “Brand Bengaluru” initiative.