Bally, that has reeled from acute water scarcity for the last two-and-half decades, has now become a water sufficient municipality thanks to the new water treatment plant operating from September last year. Residents of Bally, who have had to go without water not just during summer but also in winter months, now have water in their taps 24x7 from the Rs 138-crore water treatment plant. Unfortunately, a section of Bally residents, however, continue to suffer the water ordeal even as their neighbours get water. Wards 1, 2 and 3 are still without water because of the unjust demands of a handful of illegal settlers preventing the construction of an elevated reservoir. 

The issue of water has been raised in the run-up to every election in Bally and people here talked of the crisis in every forum prior to the new plant. The municipality in Bally have had to buy water from the Serampore water treatment plant and Padmapukur Water Works to meet the demands of the residents. For the last few months, however, things have changed because of the Calcutta Municipal Development Authority (CMDA)-Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) water treatment plant at BK Pal Temple Road that was inaugurated by state urban development minister Firhad Hakim in March 2014, two months before the general election. According to the project, the plant will supply 10 million gallon water per day to Bally. However, to reach this water to every resident of Bally, 12 Elevated Service Reservoirs (ESR)s are needed. While the CMDA has been able to build 11 of them, the 12th one remains to be constructed at 7 Padmababu Road because of pending rehabilitation demands. “We have already rehabilitated the genuine settlers, who were evicted from the proposed site of the ERS at Padmababu Road. But those who are still demanding rehabilitation are outsiders. They have encroached on the land and now they are demanding rehabilitation. We do not have provision to rehabilitate illegal occupiers,” 
said Arunava Lahiri, chairman, Bally Municipality. 

Echoing Lahiri, Amanullah Mollah, the office superintendent of the municipality said: “We have to build 12 ESRs within the Bally Municipality. Among them we have already built 11 ESRs in Liluah, Belur and Bally. But we have failed to build one at Padmababu Road as most of the illegal occupiers refused to move from the land.” He said that the ESR needs to be built at any cost for supplying water to the residents of Wards 1, 2 and 3. “The residents of Bally have their own water treatment plant after two-and-half decades. But the irony is that a large number of people are being denied water from the plant because of some illegal occupiers. We are not going to tolerate this,” he said.

The authorities of Bally Municipality said that they had built 122 flats at Khamarpara for rehabilitating the genuine settlers. According to the authorities, the one bigha land at Padmababu Road is the property of Bally Municipality. “The conservancy staff of the civic body used to live at the site on Padmababu Road. Many of them have died, some have left but have rented the space to others, some have relatives living in the space. These people are not our staff and we cannot rehabilitate them. They have to vacate the plot in the larger interest of the people,” said an officer of conservancy department. He said that about 16 families of bona fide conservancy staff have already moved to the Khamarpara flats. He claimed that all genuine conservancy staff would be rehabilitated. 

Those who are still living at Padmababu Road, however, claim that they are genuine residents of the area and that they are entitled to rehabilitation. “My father was a conservancy staff of the Bally Municipality. I was born and brought up here. I cannot be thrown out of my house. We want rehabilitation,” said a resident who did not want to be named. 

Due to the adamant attitude of the illegal occupants a large number of people living in Shricharan Sarani, Bireswar Chatterjee Street, Padmababu Road, Monmohan Mukherjee Road, PN Ghosh Road, AN Pal Road, Pitambar Banerjee Lane and parts of Panchanantala Lane are suffering from water scarcity. “As a short term measure to provide relief to the residents, we are directly releasing water in the pipe. But this is not the proper way to do it. The residents are not getting water because of very low pressure,” said Mohammed Musharaf Khan, a sub-assistant engineer. He said that for proper supply, water from the treatment plant has to be lifted to the ESR and then sent to the households through pipes. 

The residents of Wards 1, 2 and 3 are up in arms because of the continued crisis. They want the ESR to be built immediately. “It is very unfortunate that when the residents of all the other wards are enjoying the benefits of the water treatment plant, we are suffering from water crisis,” said Partha Chatterjee, a resident of Bireswar Chatterjee Lane.