Residents forced to buy water

Amit Bathla

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, July 17

With water supply yet to be restored by the Haryana Shehri Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) after a cholera outbreak, Abheypur residents are forced to buy water from private tankers for daily consumption.

The water being supplied through tankers pressed into service by the authorities is not sufficient, say residents. This is taking a toll on villagers, who belong to the lower income strata and struggle to make their both ends meet.

Haryana Speaker and local MLA Gian Chand Gupta yesterday directed HSVP officials to ensure arrangement of adequate number of water tankers for Abhyepur residents.

On a random visit to the village this afternoon, it was found that a group of youths had arranged four water tankers for locals by contributing from their own pockets so that residents don’t suffer in the scorching summer. Each tanker costs them Rs500

“Only four-five government tankers have been deployed in the village. They are certainly not enough to fulfil the demand of the village and people are struggling. We had to arrange four water tankers at our own cost,” said one of them.

He said they would place order for more tankers if the demand went up.

He said: “Leakages of pipes have been occurring time and time again. However, the officials concerned have failed to find a permanent solution so far. I urge the authorities to address the issue as soon as possible.”

However, HSVP officials said they were putting in all efforts to ensure the village did not face the shortage of water.

Amit Rathee, Executive Engineer of the HSVP, said enough tankers had been deployed to meet the daily water demands of Abheypur residents.

“We can’t restore supply without addressing the problem as cases have risen significantly. We can’t let the situation go out of control. We had found three leakages at three places and those water connections were cut,” he said.

He said hopefully, they would restore the water supply by tomorrow evening.