Suryakund pond on the Gaya Central Jail premises. Picture by Suman

Gaya, March 6: The water scarcity problem plaguing Gaya for the past decade is, to a large extent, man-made.

The town once had a good arrangement of water harvesting by ponds and hills. Now it has fallen prey to inadequate planning and large-scale construction.

Social workers, Vijay Kumar Mithu and Babulal Singh, said at a time there were more than 50 ponds in Gaya. Of them, hardly 15 are left at present. Even these existing ponds dry up during summer because of depletion of underground water level. This includes Ramshila pond, Dighghi tank, Godawari, Ramsagar pond, Bisar pond, Vaitarni, Uttar Manus Pitamaheshwar, Suryakund, Saryu Pokhar, Hadhadwa Mahadev on Brahmayoni hills, two ponds on the Gaya Central Jail premises, a pond at Gandhi Maidan and some others.

Kathokar pond, three aahars (a waterbody for irrigation purpose), ponds in Mustafabad falling under Anugrah Puri colony, Koili Pokhar pond and other ponds have been filled up for construction of residential colonies. Presently, a posh colony Nutan Nagar, has come up by filling up several ponds.

Earlier, Gaya was surrounded by hills like Ramshila, Pretshila, Brahmayoni, Murli, Katari and Gurupadgiri. Ranjeet Kumar Verma, professor of chemistry at Magadh University, Bodhgaya headquarters told The Telegraph: “Ponds were present at the foothills that would get filled with rainwater. The hills were a natural source of water harvesting as the water flowing down used to accumulate in the ponds. The hills had good water holding capacity as well. However, mining in these hills resulted in filling up of the ponds.”

Scarcity of water assumes alarming proportions during summer. Several areas like Mustafabad, Magadh Colony, Hanuman Nagar, Shashtri Nagar, Anugrah Puri Colony, Rampur, Godawari, Bairagi, Station Road and some other localities are the worst hit because of the depleting underground water-table.

Water pipeline installations have started in these areas about a year back but it would take time to ensure water supply to the residents.

Gaya Municipal Corporation (GMC), it seems, has woken up to end the crisis. GMC deputy mayor Akhauri Onkarnath, alias Mohan Shrivastava told The Telegraph no new house construction plan has been passed in the past year without proper water harvesting arrangement that include construction of recharge pit.

He said there is also a plan to fence all existing ponds to protect these from encroachment. GMC would request principals of schools and colleges to construct water harvesting system on the playgrounds.

“GMC would extend all possible help in these activities,” Shrivastava said. Apart from that, all hand pumps are being repaired before summer and arrangements are being made to ensure their regular maintenance, he added.