Around 80,000 residents in the hill town of Kalimpong have been suffering from an acute shortage of water supply these past couple of weeks.

Residents have demanded immediate measures to improve the situation, prompting the local civic authorities and the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) to send a proposal to the state so that the problem can be addressed at the earliest.

“We have sent a proposal to the state PHE (public health engineering) department and to the urban development and municipal affairs department to take steps to improve water supply across the civic area,” said C.B. Gurung, a GTA Sabhasad.

Sources said that water supply was erratic in all 23 wards of the hill town. The civic body could supply water merely once a week, for less than an hour.

Residents said that the Kalimpong municipality was established in 1945 when the population in the civic area was around 4,000. The civic body used to supply water through a network of pipelines to every household and commercial area.

The existing infrastructure is grossly inadequate for 80,000.

“The old pipeline network needs to be replaced,” said a resident. “We buy water by spending ₹400 for every 1,000 litres. The average requirement is around seven million litres per day (MLD) while the civic body can provide hardly two MLD.”

Not everyone can spend that kind of money on water. Many take water from Bagdhara, a hilly stream which flows adjacent to the Mela Ground through ward 12.

The current board of administrators at the civic body has taken up a drinking water project under the Centre’s AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation) 2.0 scheme, with an estimated project cost of around ₹266 crore.

“But it will take at least two years to complete. For this time, interim measures are needed to handle the situation. That is why we appealed to the state departments through the GTA and local MLA Ruden Sada Lepcha for immediate measures. People are suffering here because of the water crisis,” Gurung said.

Hem Kanta Bhandari, the general secretary of Kalimpong Jankalyan Samiti, who has been residing in the hill town for more than 50 years, said they have not seen such irregular water supply in the civic areas in recent years.

“We have appealed to all authorities concerned for an immediate solution,” Bhandari said.

Ravi Pradhan, the head of the board of administrators of the Kalimpong civic body, said they requested the PHE department to replace the old pipelines and carry out some maintenance work.

“The old pumping station at Pedong 20 Mile had turned defunct. We made it functional with the help of the GTA and the PHE to draw water from the Relli river and supply it across the town,” Pradhan said.

“Efforts are on to provide water to the residents at least three days a week. Also, the technical bid for the mega drinking water project will be opened on June 16,”
Pradhan added.