Water a measure of social divide in Punhana

Geetanjali Gayatri
Tribune News Service
Nuh, August 26

Married recently into a family in one of Punhana Assembly segment’s biggest village Singar, Samina’s everyday worry is having enough water in the storage tank the family has got built in the compound of their house.

“We have no source of water supply and have to rely solely on purchasing it from private operators, who send tankers on demand. This storage tank is our lifeline and water supplied by a tanker lasts only a fortnight in my house,” she explains. A tanker costs around Rs800 and a family of six, she says, needs at least two tankers a month.

The Rs285 crore Ranney well project of the Haryana Government is yet to take water to these houses in the village with 16,000 voters and many others in the area. While the well-off families have constructed personal storage tanks, it is the poor families, who are struggling to get their daily requirement.

Mohd Hanif of Hajipur village in the same constituency explains the economics of the tank construction, which is no longer an option but a necessity.

“The Ranney well supply pond is situated at one end of my village, which is a distance of nearly 1.5 km. We get water supply for an hour every morning at that particular location. The villagers with houses near the pond use up all water well before we can even get there, which is why we are forced to tap private suppliers and construct our own tanks to store bought water,” he explains, adding the construction of a tank, nearly 10-ft deep and 6-ft wide, costs around Rs25,000.

Rati Khan of the same village says the people of the area have been left to fend for themselves as nobody from the government has come forward to address this grievance though schemes have been announced in the past.

“Till the scheme becomes operational, we will have to keep burning holes in our pockets to buy water. The government should make some stop-gap arrangement,” he said.

The high cost of construction coupled with the recurring cost of buying water is a deterrent for families with meagre earnings who can ill-afford it.

Amna of Singar village says her husband just earns enough that they can feed themselves. “We are labourers and have no earning to spare for buying water. Nobody wants to wed their girls in our families because water supply is a big issue. In this old age, who will fetch water for us? There is no water and we have to walk a long distance and wait for whatever supply we get,” she says as Chahat Bi, her neighbour, nods in agreement.

Not aware of people buying water: Minister 

Admitting that water supply is inadequate in Punhana constituency and elsewhere in Nuh district, Minister of State (Public Health) Dr Banwari Lal said the government was working on a project to supply water through Ranney well to 18 villages, while RO plants would be installed in 29 other villages of this segment. He said he was not aware of people buying water from private operators and that his department had details of water supplied through government tankers whenever a demand has come.