Abundant water for Panchkula, even as Chandigarh runs dry

Even though the city is not receiving water from Kaushalya dam for the past one year, as the pipeline that supplied water from the dam had got damaged in 2018, the city has not recorded water scarcity yet.

A senior official of the HSVP said, “The city lies at a positively strategic position. Ghaggar river and the Kaushalya dam fills up during monsoons, recharging the ground water levels of the city. With this set up, there cannot be a water shortage in Panchkula.” The HSVP authorities also claimed that even though, according to the central government, a total of 135 litres per capita a day is necessary, Panchkula gets 155 litres of water per capita per day.

While the residents of most of the sectors in Panchkula remain happy with the water supply, people living in multi-storey apartments allege that due to low pressure, less water is pumped to the higher floors, even as the ground floor gets ample water supply.

A member of the RWA at Sector 19, Kamlesh said, “Water is supplied at a low pressure. We have had to install underground water tanks that fill up and then we pump up the water through motors. The pipes put by the HSVP have a capacity much lower than the mandated capacity. If they supply water with pressure, the pipes will burst open.”

However, the HSVP officials said, the whole city recieved ample water and it was not HSVP’s responsibility to pump up water to the floors. It is mandated that the water reaches ground floors and is pumped up through machines. He added that in certain areas, the topography of the city caused problems as some areas were located at a higher elevation and some at a lower elevation.

Village faces scarcity

While most of the Panchkula has not recorded water scarcity issues, the Nada village has been facing acute water scarcity. The village, which lies close to the Nada Sahib Guruduwara, receives water just once a day and at varied times. The residents allege that the HSVP is partial at supplying water to the village areas and some houses do not receive water at all. The residents of these houses fetch water from the gurudwara. The residents claim that they have filed numerous complaints, however, but to no vail.