Water crisis intensifies as Sirhind canal closure extended

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 8

Water crisis has intensified in the city as water has not been released into the Sirhind canal yet. It is learnt that water supply closure to the canal has been extended. Earlier, the canal was closed till December 7, but now it is expected that the city will receive water by December 13.

Residents are facing problems as due to water shortage the Water Supply Department is providing water on alternate days to city areas. Home makers are very upset as they are facing difficulty in finishing daily chores of household.

Water Supply Department SDO Ravi Kumar said, “We have consumed water stored for 20 days. Now the water level had reached to a very low level, due to which we have adjusted the available water supply for next 4-5 days and we are supplying water alternatively in all the areas in the city.”

He said hopefully, the city would receive water on December 13 and water supply would improve only after that.

Those residing in areas at more height than average are the worst hit. The inadequate water supply has forced the residents to rely on groundwater, which is said to be contaminated.

Residents said that despite lavish expenditure by the state government, hardly anything was done practically to provide uninterrupted water supply.

The process of suspending the water flow in the canal is a yearly process for which officials of the department must prepare themselves much ahead.

The city has a water requirement of 61 MLD daily but it gets 47 MLD on normal days. With the closure of the canal, the supply has drastically gone down.

However, residents in many areas are complaining that they are not getting any water supply for the past few days, due to which they are facing problems.

Irked over which, residents of many areas have announced to stage protest tomorrow. Residents claim that apart from drinking, water is required for many works, bathing, toilet, washing, cooking etc.

Mandeep Kaur, a resident of Bangi Nagar, said, “It is really sad to see that politicians make tall claims during elections, but once the poll are over, they hardly bother to meet residents again. Many years have passed and the governments have failed to provide basic civic amenities to the residents.”

Gurmeet Singh said “Not every household has installed water pumps or submersible pumps and fetching water from RO plant is not possible for every household, especially elderly. Using untreated groundwater is also not a healthy proposition. Authorities have to work out a permanent solution to the problem by ensuring uninterrupted water supply in the area.”