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Sandeep Rana
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, May 19
The potable water supply to households will be stopped and all public conveniences will be closed by contractors if the latter do not get any satisfactory response during their scheduled meeting with Mayor Davesh Moudgil and UT Adviser Parimal Rai on Monday.
Contractors had earlier given deadline till May 20 to Moudgil to clear their dues worth around Rs 40-50 crore and had declared, otherwise, they would stop these essential services. They had already stopped construction works such as re-carpeting of roads, laying of new water pipelines and building/refurbishing of community centres.
“We held a meeting of 80 to 90 contractors on Saturday at a community centre in Bapu Dham Colony, Sector 26 here. We have decided that we will meet the Mayor and then the Adviser. If they give us two to three days to make the payment, then it’s fine. If they say they do not have funds and ask us to wait longer, we are going on a strike. We will stop the water supply and close down public toilets,” said Hari Shankar Mishra, president, All Chandigarh MC Contractors Union.
The contractors said at all tube wells and waterworks, including in Sectors 39, 12, 37, 32, 26 and Mani Majra, they had their own workers. They would ask them to stop the work. Also, all public toilets were run by contractors and they said they would ask them to lock toilets and sit inside.
Though these workers at essential services are getting their salaries from the corporation, since they are employed under the contractors, so they would be asked to stop the work til the contractors’ payment is made clear.
Earlier on May 11, the contractors engaged by the MC sat on a protest in front of the MC gate on the roadside. They raised slogans against the corporation and vacated the place after meeting the Mayor. The MC is short of funds and barely has money left to pay salaries of its own employees.
Residents continue to face water woes
Residents water crisis continued in several parts of the city. Officials said they would try to restore the normal water supply by Monday. However, some areas might start getting improved supply from Sunday.
On Saturday, as many as 393 complaints of water shortage were received. By the evening, 305 of them resolved by sending 99 tankers. Sectors such as 20, 22, 19, 28, 27, 23, 24, 30 and 41 had the major issue where the tankers were sent.
The MC official said the shortage was due to the sudden breakdown of a pipeline near the waterworks in Sector 39. Thus, the water supply in the city was at a low pressure. Officials said the repair work was completed, but it would take some time for the water supply to normalise. Residents staying on first and second floors in many areas are not getting water supply.