BANGALORE: Once a famous quenching point for the eastern and cantonment regions of Bangalore, the Chowk Bowdi, more than a century-old, is now at the mercy of the civic officials for its maintenance. The Chowk Bowdi as it is commonly known, is located opposite the Russel Market. Despite Cauvery water being supplied to this area, this celebrated well continues to serve the locals, many of whom depend on this water source even to this day. For cleaning vehicles and utensils of the nearby eateries and even for public functions, this hoary well continues to serve the purpose and has enough water throughout the year. During summers, when there is no water in the tail end areas of Bangalore east such as Hennur, KR Puram and Mahadevpura, surprisingly, this well never goes dry. The Russel Market traders owe a lot to the existence of this well. When the fire squad were fighting the inferno in the early hours on February 25 that reduced 126 shops to ashes, this well came in very handy. On the trader’s suggestion, the fire force used the water from this well and were able to douse the fire. The water level in this ancient well did not deplete despite water being pumped out for over five hours.Urban l ore has it that the well was dug even before the market was built in 1927.According to the locals, when the British came from Madras Presidency to set up a settlement in Bangalore, they looked for a place where plenty of water was available. They found that Shivajinagar area met all their requirements and therefore, established their Cantonment here. Old timers also say that it was Hyder Ali who instructed his men to dig tanks to facilitate water supply for his soldiers.Later, the Britishers captilised on this idea and connected this to other existing wells, like the Sait Bowdi and Rabu Bowdi by digging tunnels inside. “My grandfather was a jawan and he too was involved in the freedom struggle. I remember him telling me that arms and ammunition were hidden in the wells and soldiers too hid in the well and later used the tunnels to escape from the clutches of the opposition,” said, Mohammed Sadiq Ali, a resident of Shivajinagar.The well of prosperityMohammed Idrees Choudhury, general secretary of the Russell Market Fruit and Vegetable Merchants’ Association, confirmed that the wells have been the only source of water for several residents for many decades. “It was this Chowk Bowdi that saved us from further losses, but the BBMP and BWSSB have not taken any interest in maintaining this well of fortune. It was only this Bowdi that supplied around 150 tankers of water for the month-long Islamic Conference held in early 80’s and the water level never went down,” said Choudhury. The well, now exclusively identified as the Russell Market well, was connected to Raabu Baudi and Sait Baudi. “The water from the well is still as refreshing as before. The well being around 150 feet, there is a huge mesh at a certain depth here. This was installed a long time ago, probably by the Britishers themselves, to prevent people from jumping into the well,” added Choudhury. The pumps and motors that were once connected to the well have now been removed by the BBMP. The locals and traders have appealed to the civic body to maintain the wells so that the water problem persisting in their wards are mitigated to some extent. BBMP Chief Engineer (Market and Maintenance), Munikrishna has assured they will take up the cleaning measures but urged people to use this water only for purposes like washing and cleaning. He added, “The water in the well is unfit for drinking and polluted. We will have to drain the water out and use limestone to make it potable.”
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