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Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 16
Water supply at low pressure badly hit residents of many sectors in the city today.
While officials claimed that the supply would become normal within two to three days, crisis has left residents in the lurch. With the MC failing to meet the rising demand for water tankers across the city, residents are forced to buy water from private suppliers who charge anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 per tanker.
Officials said water supply was affected due to the ongoing work at Kajauli for providing additional water through Phase 5 and 6 supply lines. They said the MC had started a trial run for supply of additional water. Due to certain glitches, underground reservoirs were not getting sufficient water, which has resulted in low water supply in many sectors.
The worst-affected areas are Sectors 19, 18, 27, 28 and 29.
Residents of Sector 19-C said the MC failed to send a water tanker despite repeated calls. Surinder, a resident of the sector, said he was told to wait for one day.
Santosh, a resident of Sector 28, said they hardly get water supply for one hour in a day.
MC officials said 40 to 45 tankers were being used daily but the demand was for almost double the number.
Mayor Rajesh Kumar said crisis would end soon as the work on additional water supply would complete by the next week. He said he would ensure that enough water tankers were arranged for the city residents.
Congress councillor Devinder Singh Babla said the MC had failed under the BJP rule. He added that residents had been approaching him for tankers.
Residents of Sector 29 and Bapu Dham Colony are also getting water supply at low pressure for the past several days.
Baljinder Singh Bittu, president, FOSWAC, said the worst hit were those living on upper floors.
Dalip Sharma, councillor, said one could imagine the situation when the summer would be at its peak.
The city faces shortage of the water every summer when the demand for water increases. Presently, the city is receiving 87 MGD of water. Out of this, 68 MGD come from the Kajauli canal while the remaining was generated through tubewells.
46 issued notice for wastage
The MC on Tuesday issued notice to 46 persons who were found wasting potable water. Besides, a resident of Sector 28 was issued a challan of Rs 2,000. MC teams carried out checking from 5.30 am and 9 am. Among the violations for which notices were issued was leakage in overhead tank. Watering of lawns, courtyards, washing of cars and other vehicles using hosepipe is not allowed till June 30. On Monday, the MC had issued 44 challans. TNS
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