MC supplying contaminated water for month: Residents

Avneet Kaur

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Jalandhar, November 19

Residents of Jaswant Nagar and Hardial Nagar that falls in Ward 21 and 22, respectively, are irked over the ignorant attitude of the Municipal Corporation (MC) as they have been getting contaminated water supply for over a month now.

They said the problem had been acute in both colonies and despite a number of complaints sent to the MC, the district administration and the Water Supply and Sanitation Department, no action has been taken so far.

The residents alleged that they were fearing leakage in the pipeline due to which sewer water had been mixed with potable water, which was posing a threat to their health.

Balwinder Singh, president of the All India Ex-Paramilitary Forces and a resident of the area, said it had been over 30 days that they were receiving contaminated water supply. “A number of residents in the area were taken ill. People are suffering from dengue, viral and water-borne ailments, but MC officials have failed to conduct any inspection or check the water quality,” he said.

Accusing the MC officials and Water Supply and Sanitation Department of supplying untreated drinking water, Ravneet Kaur, a resident, said: “While well-to-do families and officials concerned are using reverse osmosis (RO) units installed in their houses to clean the water, others have no other option but to use the polluted water with high-fluoride contents.”

Another resident said people were forced to buy bottled water from shops as the government water supply was unfit for consumption.

She said: “Stinking dirty water is being supplied for the past couple of days. Absence of any alternate arrangement has made our life miserable.”

Residents said they had sent samples of the water for testing and had got reports that clearly say that the water was unfit for consumption. Thus, the MC authorities instead of dilly-dallying the matter, should come with a concrete solution to the problem.

However, MC Commissioner Diprava Lakra said he would look into the matter and check where the fault lies as well the quality of water. He promised to solve the problem at the earliest and said the MC team would be sent to the area tomorrow.