Nine-year-old Sujit Barla sat on an empty jerrycan near a water tap at PN Bose Compound, a middle class residential neighbourhood near Circular Road, Ranchi, on Friday.

The third grader of St John's High School had come to fetch water for his family in the blistering afternoon heat. But after waiting for over an hour, Sujit left without a drop of water in the jerrycan.

"In the morning, there was water supply around 8am but my mother could not fill the buckets because of the long queue. She sent me in the afternoon, but this time too, I could not fill up the buckets," said the boy, whose school was closed for Good Friday.

He then walked 2km to a well near Purulia Road to fetch water.

Water supply at PN Bose Compound, housing a population of over 500, including slum dwellers, has been erratic over the past few days. There is only one functional public tap, providing water from 8am to 9pm and again from 1pm to 2pm.

But people consider themselves lucky if they are able to get water in the morning given the huge demand. Supply in the afternoon is irregular.

The other source of water, a hand pump, is defunct. Those who can afford to shell out extra bucks sometimes buy water from the tankers sent by Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC).

Leave aside household chores, children in the locality have to forego baths before going to schools. "I have not bathed for two days. I thought that I would finally take a shower today, but didn't get water from the tap," said Vivek Das, a fifth grader of DAV School who went with Sujit to get water from the well.

Heeralal Prasad, engineer-in-chief-cum-executive director of state drinking water and sanitation department, Ranchi division, said: "The situation is usually not this bad. Yesterday (Thursday), supply of water from Rukka Dam was irregular because of a lockout there. But we will ensure regular supply of water in all residential areas over the next few days."

When pointed out that this problem had been persisting for the past week, Prasad promised to visit the area and assess the situation.

Public relations officer of RMC Naresh Kumar said that after April 15, they would introduce a 2,000-litre capacity water tanker for catering to 110 residential areas, including PN Bose Compound.