No water supply for 2 months, Ropar villagers take to streets

Ropar, February 7

A large number of residents of Mohiwal and Tarapur villages in the Changar area today staged a protest in their villages demanding restoration of drinking water supply. The water supply in their villages was stopped two months ago allegedly after Punjab State Power Corporation Limited snapped power supply after the consumers didn’t deposit bills for years.

The authorities said panchayats of both villages had not deposited over Rs30 lakh against water supply to these villages even after repeated reminders to them and finally, the power connection to the water supply scheme at Mohiwal was disconnected in November. They, however, denied that the power supply at Tarapur village was snapped.

Jaspal Singh of Tarapur said he didn’t get a single drop of water at his home in the last two months. Similarly, Jarnail Singh of Mohiwal said for the last two months they were dependent on a well in the village to fulfil their water requirement since the authorities disconnected power supply to the water scheme. Public Health Department XEN Michael and PSPCL subdivisional officer Om Prakash said the two village panchayats had failed in depositing the bills against water supply schemes being handled by them since 2010. Om Prakash said while Mohiwal village panchayat had to pay arrears of Rs22 lakh, the Tarapur village panchayat had arrears of Rs13 lakh.

Michael said PSPCL authorities were ready to waive all the penalties imposed on the panchayats. — TNS