PATIALA, April 26: the Patiala Municipal Corporation seems to be testing the endurance of the residents. They have been forced to put up with an acute shortage of drinking water since the onset of summer. The situation, bad as as it is now, is likely to worsen as the temperature soars and the demand for water increases, notwithstanding the Corporation's assurances that the situation will improve.On the staff front, the situation in the Water Supply Department of the corporation is alarming. There is one superintending engineer (who also holds additional charge of sewerage and buildings), one sub-divisional officer, one junior engineer, six fitters and ten plumbers to cater to the needs of the city, which has already crossed the population of 3.25 lakh.This is probably the most understaffed department of the four municipal corporations in the state. In Amritsar, for example, there are three executive engineers, besides scores of field employees, who attend to the work of the Water Supply Department.Corporation authorities say they don't have the funds to deploy more staff to supervise and attend to complaints about erratic water supply. There are frequent breakdowns of tubewells and the authorities often fail to take prompt action on complaints about low pressure.The low priority that the Municipal Corporation accords to Water Supply can be gauged from the following facts. Out of a total of 13 overhead water reservoirs, eight have been lying unused for years. According to a conservative estimate, there are at least 600 to 700 unauthorised water taps working in the city. In addition, there are about 150 public hydrants still working, reportedly because of political pressure. These hydrants run for the whole day, wasting precious water.There are a total of 35 tubewells in the city. But water from only 13 of them is treated before being supplied to the city.According to sources, the Municipal Committee (before it was upgraded as the Municipal Corporation), allegedly under political pressure, allowed water supply lines to be laid in unauthorised colonies. This was done even though there was no corresponding provision to augment the availability of drinking water that could be pumped into the system. It is, therefore, no surprise that most of the peripheral colonies have no water or that the pressure is too weak to meet the requirements of even those living on the ground floor.People seem to be gradually coming to terms with the water crisis. Even if there is no supply in some localities for a day or so, there is not even a murmur.On March 1, a group of irate women from the Suigaran Mohalla stormed the Town Hall, protesting the low pressure of water in their area. They smashed window panes. The corporation got a police case registered against them. They have agreed to withdraw the case as the protesters have coughed up compensation for the loss caused to corporation property.Some of the affected colonies include Bishan Nagar, Suigaran Mohalla, Maiji Ki Serai, Gurbux Colony, Rajpura Colony, Dashmesh Nagar and Tafazalpura.A. K. Bhandari, superintending engineer, said that people had installed centrifugal pumps on main lines, thus lowering water supply in the main lines. But there was not much staff to check this menace. He said that during the last six months, only 250 such pumps were removed.Incidentally, no penal action is taken against those who install these pumps. This has obviously encouraged some residents to install more pumps to steal water, while others suffer silently.Bhandari said that six new tubewells were scheduled to be commissioned in about ten days. He hoped the situation would improve.Master Niranjan Dass, former president of the Patiala Municipal Committee, said that the drinking water supply was never so bad as it is now. He sought immediate intervention of the State Local Bodies Department as the residents are fed up of the chronic water crisis.
