Summers have just closed in and people around the city are already crying out loud for water shortages. Some areas have also witnessed complaints of contaminated water pouring in.
Residents residing near Sanganeri Gate have been buying water from private tankers from the last 20 days since the contaminated water is being supplied by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) in their area.
“I have complained to everyone but there is no solution till now. Earlier, for few minutes supplied water coming was muddy. But for many days this contaminated, smelly, polluted water was supplied which is not good for even washing clothes. We have been purchasing water ever since as there is no other option left. I have purchased water tanks for storage,” said Dharmendra.
Residents from Jhotwara and Barkat Nagar areas have also raised complaints regarding the supply of contaminated water from the last few days. Jaipur has already begun to feel the heat due to the scarce rainfall in 2018. The water level at Bisalpur dam is depleting gradually with hardly 15% water left in the dam. PHED has already cut short the supply of water in the city by 30% from the Bisalpur dam.
There are around 10 houses near Minerwa Talkies, Johari market where residents haven’t received a single drop of water from the last three months. Mahesh Sharma, a resident of the area, said that earlier they received water in very low pressure. They shifted the water connection through another pipeline but since then they haven’t received any water.
“We are purchasing around five tankers every month for our family which costs us between Rs.400 and Rs.500 which is taking a toll on our pockets as the prices have gone up since the starting of summers. We have complained to the PHED department which said that for new connection road have to be dug up and we have to bear the cost of it. I am now constructing a water tank in my house to accommodate the tanker water without which the summers will be difficult to bear,” said Mahesh.
Officials at PHED department claimed that they haven’t received any such sorts of complaints. Devraj Solanki, Additional Chief Engineer, PHED, said, “There are no complaints about low pressure of water. Regarding contaminated water, we will also look into the matter and will try to find out the source of the leakage.”
In the middle of all of this, residents around the city have now started complaining again about the low pressure of water. Ibrahim Khan, a resident at Shastri Nagar said that earlier they were receiving water for an hour which has now been reduced to 20 minutes that too in low pressure.
“We are forced to use boosters without which we cannot manage,” said Ibrahim.
In places like Prithiviraj Nagar, where water is supplied through tankers, government tankers are 15 to 30 days late from the normal dates. “There have been many times I had to intervene for the quick supply of water but cannot help every time. If the monsoon is not better this year, only God can help us,” said Madhu Devi, councilor of Ward no 17.
As per the officials, water in the Bisalpur dam is sufficient till August after which it will all be depending on the monsoon.
