Cuttack, April 6: The water crisis in Jobra seems to have come to an end. A new pump house has been set up by the public health department (PHD) in the locality.

Last year inconsistent water supply had left the locality virtually dry. Local residents suffered the most because of this. Authorities concerned took action only after the people expressed their resentment.

“The pump house was inaugurated on April 4 and has been made operational. The erratic water supply problem should be solved now,” said PHD junior engineer Nilamani Samal.

The pump house has been set up at a cost of Rs 14 lakh under the improvement of water supply scheme. Besides, there is a proposal to set up another pump house in Jobra soon, said Samal.

The pump house is likely to solve water-related issues of Pareshwarsahi, Samadhipatna and nearby areas including College Square, said PHD officials. Sources said at present there are four motor pumps in Jobra and two in College Square. This is adequate to meet the water requirements in both the localities with a combined population of around 40,000.

The Telegraph, in a report published on March 25, 2011, had highlighted problems faced by the residents of Samadhipatna because of acute water crisis. The residents complained that around 500 families living there had not been getting proper supply for two years.

The problems used to worsen in summer and the residents said the pipelines were blocked because they had not been replaced since 2008.

Though there are two tubewells at Samadhipatna, the people had to wait for a long time to collect water from there, and this caused a lot of inconvenience.

Several people in the locality had also dug up boring wells in their houses, which has resulted in the depletion of the groundwater level in the city.

On September 8, 2011, the residents of Jobra had protested against the inconsistent water supply by blocking a road.

“We were earlier facing difficulties because there was irregular supply of water to our locality. Though we had approached the authorities repeatedly, no step was taken in this regard last year,” said Bibhuti Swain, 34, a local resident.

Now, the water scarcity problem, particularly at Samadhipatna, has been resolved to a great extent with the setting up of the pump house.