An empty water kiosk at Khatbin Sahi in Cuttack. Picture by Badrika Nath Das

Cuttack, April 27: The local civic body has again drawn flak for not being able meet its target of setting up drinking water kiosks or jal chhatras (temporary drinking water kiosks) even though life has been adversely affected by an intense heatwave condition in the city.

Moreover, the Cuttack Municipal Corporation is also running behind schedule in setting up the drinking water kiosks, which has led to resentment among the people.

So far, only 41 temporary drinking water kiosks, including 20 kiosks by the corporation, have been set up in various wards, while the remaining kiosks have been set up by a private agency carrying out construction for a project of the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Earlier, the corporation had chalked out a summer contingency plan and decided to set up 108 drinking water kiosks across all the 59 wards of the city.

As the civic body is yet to complete the necessary groundwork for setting up the temporary drinking water units, concerns are now being raised over its preparedness to tackle the prevailing heatwave condition.

However, most of the drinking water kiosks that have been established so far have now become mere platforms for advertisement for the civic body as those are running dry without water.

“It really shows the callous attitude of the civic body which has failed to set up water kiosks even as the mercury is now hovering between 40°C and 41°C here,” said Prakash Rath, a resident of Buxi Bazaar.

Rath further said that most of the water kiosks at prominent locations were lying unattended.

“Water kiosks are essential to all those who have to work on the outdoors in the intense heat. The poor people, and the labourers and other commuters are at an increased risk of sunstroke. The civic body should take immediate steps to make all water kiosks operational,” said Subhankar Das, a commuter.

Das further said that even though more than 30 water kiosks had also been set up by private institutions, there was an urgent requirement of another 50 water kiosks in the city as the temperature was likely to increase in the coming days.

An official of the municipal corporation claimed that all the 41 water kiosks set up in the city so far were functioning without any problems.

“Temporary drinking water kiosks have already been set up in another 20 places, while 28 more places have been identified yesterday. All the 89 drinking water kiosks would be made operational by Tuesday,” said city health officer P.K. Pradhan.