Water woes back to haunt residents of twin towns in Ambala

Nitin Jain

The summer season has not even arrived yet and the twin towns of Ambala are in the grip of water shortage already.

With the temperature rising, the demand for potable water has almost doubled in the City and Cantonment areas.

The reports of erratic supply, low pressure, reduced timings, contaminated water and taps going dry for days together have started pouring in from various parts of the twin towns.

To meet the demand, which according to officials go up from 10 to 12 lakh gallons daily in the winter season to 20 lakh gallons daily in the summer season, the Public Health Department and the civic bodies have started working on the plans to augment the water supply.

From installing new tube wells to increasing the capacity of existing water pumps, replacing the old rusted underground supply lines and checking the illegal use of booster pumps were the main plans on which the officials concerned were working on.

“We are working on several plans to augment the water supply and meet the increased demand in the summer season,” said Anil Chauhan, Public Health Executive Engineer.

He said plugging the leakage and disconnecting those stand posts from where the water gets wasted were also being done.

To check the water contamination, the consumers have been asked to re-route their connections that pass through open drains of dirty waste water.

“Recently, the department had disconnected 15 such connections after the reports of contaminated water supply were received from Dayal Bagh area,” he said.

Defaulters put on notice

A large number of private and government consumers owe around Rs14 crore water and sewerage cess to the Public Health Department.

To recover the arrears, which comprise Rs11.58 crore for water and Rs2.3 crore for sewerage cess, the department had issued notices to defaulters and given them a final warning to clear the arrears forthwith.

“In case the defaulters failed to clear the arrears, the department would initiate penal action, which includes disconnection and even registration of FIRs,” the official said.

‘Working on it’

We are working on several plans to augment the water supply and meet the increased demand during the summer season. We are also plugging the leakage and disconnecting those stand posts from where the water gets wasted. Recently, the department had disconnected 15 such connections after the reports of contaminated water supply were received from Dayal Bagh area. —Anil Chauhan, Public Health Executive Engineer

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