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| An empty water kiosk in Cuttack. Telegraph picture |
Cuttack/Bhubaneswar, May 17: Most of the water kiosks set up in the twin cities have gone dry causing inconvenience to people out in the hot sun.
The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) claimed to have set up 108 temporary water units at various locations of the city last month but over 50 per cent of them are either facing water shortage or are unmanned.
“The water kiosks are still not able to cater to the requirements of the people,” said councillor of ward No. 32 Dharmanand Patra. He said the lack of planning and co-ordination resulted in the mismanagement.
In Bhubaneswar, more than 100 water kiosks have been set up in collaboration with various private organisations. But many have alleged that the three tankers of Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) meant to provide water to the kiosks were insufficient.
The civic body has failed to keep its promise of providing drinking water at the kiosks by 8am. “The civic body stopped providing drinking water for the jalachhatras (opened on April 1) operating from vending zones on May 11 and 12 due to inclement weather. But the next day, the tanker did not come and we had to call up the BMC authorities to provide water,” said All-Odisha Roadside Vendors’ Association president Pratap Sahu.
The corporation’s decision to make it mandatory for lassi-kiosk owners to set up a drinking water kiosk, failing which trade licence would not be granted, is also not been properly enforced, said local residents.
“Not a single drinking-water kiosk has ice bags or oral re-hydartion salt (ORS) sachets to deal with sunstroke cases. Many kiosks are also unmanned,” said Amiya Pradhan, a resident of Nayapalli.
However, nearly 35 water kiosks run by autorickshaw associations in the city are being properly managed.
Residents of Cuttack believe that the CMC should involve NGOs and voluntary groups to manage the temporary water kiosks. City health officer P.K. Pradhan said efforts were on to ensure that there were no problems in the functioning of the kiosks.
“Lack of manpower of the outsourcing agencies has led to problems. We have decided to provide alternative personnel to manage the kiosks by Monday,” said Pradhan.