Water supply plays hide and seek much to the consternation of residents

Mail News Service

Chakulia, Sept 3: The motor at Pump House number 4 has been malfunctioning since long, creating potable water supply problems to residents of Chakulia, especially those in Ward Numbers 1, 8 and 9 under Chakulia Nagar Panchayat. Presently, water is being supplied through tankers. It may be mentioned that water supply had been disrupted due to the malfunctioning of the pump at Pump House # 4.  The off and on repair process had led to growing consternation among the Ward residents with water supply playing hide and seek due to the ‘now on-now off’ water pump issue. The latest issue is related to the water pump being repaired on Saturday evening but within half an hour of the resumption of water supply, the pump broke down again, leaving denizens high and dry since Sunday, September 3.

Locals stated that this was not the first time such an issue had occurred in the Pump House. Previously, the motor pump had broken down, causing inconvenience to the residents for several days. Following this, the municipal administration had installed a new motor pump, and water supply had resumed. However, the motor pump failed again last Friday, prompting local residents to stage a protest and sit-in at the Nagar Panchayat office.

However, Junior Engineer Pradip Oraon assured the irate residents that water supply would be restored by Saturday evening, after which the protestors dispersed. The repair work on the motor pump was initiated on Saturday evening, but to everyone’s dismay, the water supply lasted for only half an hour before the motor pump stopped functioning again.

Due to the continued water supply crisis, residents have been forced to rely on tanker deliveries for their drinking water needs. This situation has caused significant inconvenience to the rural population.

Chakulia Nagar Panchayat is now under scrutiny for its inability to provide consistent and reliable drinking water. Currently, the water supply in most of the town relies on aging bore-wells. Water pipelines have not been laid in several localities of Chakulia including the market place.