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| The dried-up Damodar in Asansol. Two pumps can be seen in the picture. (Gour Sharma) |
Asansol, Sept. 17: Asansol is groaning under an acute drinking water shortage because the truant rain has almost dried up the Damodar, which flows by the town.
The submersible pumps are drawing much less water from the river, the town’s main water source, prompting the Asansol Municipal Corporation to reduce the supply of piped filtered water.
“We have been forced to cut down the supply of piped water because the Damodar has dried up on its Asansol side,” mayor Tapas Banerjee said.
Town residents usually get their daily water in two one-and-a-half-hour spells. For the past two weeks, the duration of the spells has been reduced to just 40 minutes each.
Rabiul Islam, mayor-in-council member (water supply) at the municipal corporation, said the civic authorities had been able to supply only 12 million gallons a day in the past fortnight. Asansol town needs around 31 million gallons a day.
“We have sought Rs 5 crore from the state government to install 500 hand-operated deep tube wells,” Islam said.
“We will also need funds to install 15 more submersible pumps on a stretch of the Damodar that has not dried up.”
He said the water would have to be drawn from a narrow sliver of the river on the Bankura side.
Of the 37 pumps the municipal corporation uses to draw water from the river, 10 are lying defunct. Work is on to repair them.
Residents accuse the corporation of failing to assess the situation early and taking steps such as installing an adequate number of deep tube wells.
“We don’t have piped water facilities at home. My husband leaves for work early and I need to fetch water from the municipal tap outside our house. The duration of water supply has been reduced drastically,” said Israt Aara, 35, a resident of Railpar in the northern part of Asansol town.
“The well in our house has dried up. We are suffering from an acute water crisis.”
The residents are now forced to queue in front of roadside taps.
“I suffer from arthritis and can’t walk properly because of severe pain in my knees. My husband, who is a photographer, stays away from home most of the time. Our flat is on the second floor and it’s painful for me to fetch water from a roadside tap every day,” said Gouri Sarkar, 45, a homemaker.
Lawyer Ambika Mukherjee, 52, has had to fetch water from a street tap before leaving for court every day for the past one week.
“Our well has almost dried up and the water supply from the corporation has decreased. So we have no option but to fetch water from the street taps,” Mukherjee said.