Not a to drink at Dera village

Satinder Pal Singh

Dera Bassi, June 7

Nearly hundreds of families of Dera village in the Dera Bassi sub-division have been reeling under acute shortage of water for the past four days, as mercury keeps rising with each passing day.

According to sources, there is no water for the past four days and the residents of Dera village are at the mercy of nearby villagers for potable water.

To meet their daily water requirement, people of Dera village have been collecting water from the nearby villages, covering longer distance in the scorching heat. The villagers are dependent on private tankers for potable water.

The villagers alleged that despite repeated complaints, no efforts have been made to streamline the supply of drinking water to their village.

Kulwinder Pal Singh, nambardar of Dera village, said not a drop of water had been received for the past four days. Women spend their day fetching water from far and wide and the 

situation in the village at the tail-end of the distributaries.

Gurmeet Kaur, another area resident, said “We are literally begging for water. The MC authorities have failed to make alternative arrangements. Thank god, there is a gurdwara nearby and we get one or two buckets from there only for daily chores”.

The residents of Dera village said: “The government aims at making Dera Bassi a smart city. However, it needs to realise that residents are suffering due to the lack of basic amenities. We do not except much from the government”.

Devinder Singh, Municipal Councillor of the area, said: “The work of underlying sewerage pipes is under process. 

Roads were dug up due to the same. So, water supply pipelines might have got damaged in the process. I will get the broken water pipes replaced at the earliest”.

He said there is no water shortage in the village as there are already 

two tubewells installed and tenders have been passed to install a third tubewell. It would be installed soon.

Rajeev Kumar, JE (Water Supply) Municipal Council, Dera Bassi, said due to work of underlying sewerage pipes, water supply might have been affected. Once the work is finished, there would be no problem later on.