Rohtak: Miffed at govt apathy, locals take matters in own hands, install submersible pumps

Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, May 31

With their repeated complaints regarding shortage and supply of contaminated water falling on deaf ears and even massive protest demonstrations failing to evoke effective action from the authorities concerned, residents of Rohtak have started getting submersible pumps installed at their houses.

Thanks to the lack of any well-defined guidelines governing the installation of submersible pumps, a number of residents are getting these installed at their houses.

“The matter of groundwater extraction by installing submersible pumps is dealt with by the Central Ground-Water Board and our department comes into picture if the area comes under the dark zone in terms of underground water,” said Tarun Garg, Executive Engineer, Public Health and Engineering Department.

As per local sources, the trend of digging borewells and installing submersible pumps, therein has picked up due to acute shortage of water and supply of dirty and smelly water to the residents of the city. “The residents are disappointed with the government as their water-related grievances have not been redressed despite numerous complaints and demonstrations. Hence, they are getting submersible pumps installed to become self-dependent in terms of water supply,” says local social activist Jagmati Sangwan, who has spearheaded several protest demonstrations against erratic water supply and other civic issues. Sangwan, a resident of Jhang Colony, points out that quite a few residents of her colony have got submersible pumps installed recently to ensure regular availability of water.

Dr Hariom, a faculty member at a state university, laments that the residents of his locality, Srinagar Colony, have been forced to fetch drinking water from long distances for a long time due to shortage of water and supply of contaminated water.

“Several residents in our neighbourhood have got submersible pumps installed in the recent past as the officials concerned have failed to address our concerns regarding water shortage and supply of contaminated water despite numerous complaints and reminders,” says Advocate Gaurav Badhwar of Model Town, who has also been actively pursuing the matter.

Badhwar states that some residents have been buying big cans of branded mineral water, while the others call water tankers on a daily basis and share the water supplied by these for drinking.