Crores spent, yet potable water eludes Kirtan village residents

In a glaring negligence on part of the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED), residents of Kirtan village of the district have been facing acute potable water crisis despite having the infrastructure for water supply in place due to non-availability of adequate water in waterworks.

Residents alleged that the state government constructed waterworks in the village by spending about Rs 2 crore to overcome the potable water crisis. They said, “The situation has worsened with the advent of summer season. No water has reached the village’s overhead tank from the canal, leaving the reservoir dry. Villagers are being forced to buy water from tankers, spending up to Rs 1,000 per tanker to meet their daily needs. The village has a population of 7,000. All families purchase water from private tankers.”

A resident Vikas Repswal said water works and water treatment plant to supply domestic water supply was built in 2007 at the village, but it never functioned properly. “Since the plant was built, tanks have never filled, nor have our homes received potable water,” he said.

Another villager Dayanand said raw water was supposed to be supplied from the Kabir Minor canal, but the in-let channel was constructed at the wrong level, preventing water from reaching the reservoir. He said the department made three attempts to fix the in-let channel — preparing estimates and re-laying pipelines — but failed each time. Eventually, the department shut down the channel entirely, he alleged.

Mukesh Khardiya, another resident, explained that after abandoning the Kabir Minor source, the department built a new pumping system from Chaudhary Minor canal. But even this new pump house failed to supply water to the village reservoir, he said.

“Now officials claim the estimate was incorrect, leading to the installation of undersized pipes and motors,” he said. “All we’re getting now are hollow promises,” he alleged.

Rohtash Luhaniwal, a village resident, said despite crores being spent by the government, villagers still had to purchase water to fulfil their basic needs. “The whole mess is due to the incompetence of department officials and engineers as they cannot even calculate the correct level or pipe dimensions. As a result, our village spends around Rs 20 lakh every month just to buy potable water,” he said, while making a quick calculation of the entire villages’ spending on purchasing water.

Randhir Panihar, the BJP MLA from Nalwa, who visited village to assess the situation, assured that the problem would be resolved soon.