BHOPAL: The summer is here. Going full blast before mid-April, it is fully making its presence felt in the city with people reeling under the scorching heat. It seems that coming months are going to be more painful for people of many localities here as the problem of water crisis shows no signs of having any permanent solution this year too.
Every summer season, some of the wards under Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) go dry and for years the corporation is floundering to find a way out of this annual occurrence. Some of the wards like Ward 19 and 80 are the worst hit with pipelines of neither Kolar dam project or Narmada river. The residents there are completely dependent on bore wells and water tankers.
Corporator of Ward19 Shahwar Mansuri said his ward which comprised areas like Imambara, Laxmi Talkies, Jumeirati and Rajaji ka Kuan was one of the worst affected in the city.
“People here are deprived of both Kolar water supply line and Narmada supply line. They meet their water needs by calling water tankers or by using bore wells in the area. There is one well by the name of Rajaji ka Kuan from which some of the households in the area are getting water but it is so dirty that one cannot use it for washing hands, forget drinking. The reason behind this is infusion of water from a nearby nullah in it,” said Mansuri adding mayor Alok Sharma about one year ago had asked the authorities concerned to take steps to stop the nullah water getting into the well but to no avail.
Talking to Free Press Mansuri further said till now no permanent solution was provided to the residents except promises.
“I took the matter before the BMC authorities many times to take necessary steps but often they say this problem in my ward is existing for years and they are trying to find a solution. Every time in the name of taking action they ask about maps of the area comprising number of households and all but nothing concrete is done. The approach is sickening,” he said while claiming discrimination by mayor Sharma towards the corporators from the Congress.
Same is the story in Ward 80 in the Kolar area. Residents say that the story is same during every summer season but nothing permanent is done.
“It is an irony that from Kolar dam project water is being supplied to other parts of the city but Kolar locality itself is deprived of that water. We just hear that pipelines from the dam project are being installed in the area but haven’t seen anything solid happening. During the last BMC elections CM Chouhan while campaigning for the present corporator Ravindra Yati announced that pipelines would be laid but we see nothing much happening. There are only hollow promises and nothing else. The situation here is grave,” said a resident Jitendra Jadon.
However, corporator Ravindra Yati claimed necessary actions were being taken to cope with the crisis.
“We have arranged water tankers to supply water to the households in the area. Apart, there are also bore wells which easily cater to the demand here. Some new water tanks are also being constructed which would be used to supply water to people. In some areas work of laying the pipelines attached to Kolar projcet have already started,” added Yati.
Public relation officer of BMC, Harish Gupta told Free Press that the civic body had been taking all the necessary actions to solve the crisis.
“We have installed new PVC water tanks to ensure proper water supply in the areas which are hit by water crisis during summers. Apart, we have also hired many tankers to supply water to the areas to ensure people do not face any problem. The installation work of new water pipeline has also started in the pre-identified areas,” added Gupta.
