Tankers supply water to parched Cuttack localities

CUTTACK: Even as the Millennium City is sweating with mercury touching 41 degree Celsius, scarcity of water has added to its woes.
Jobra, Mehendipur, Jhola Sahi, Nimasahi, Rausapatna, Gamhadia, Shanta Sahi, Jagatpur and Mahanadi Vihar are the worst affected areas.
Defunct tubewells and irregular supply of drinking water have irked denizens. People have to stand for hours at standposts to fill buckets as the flow is very less.
"As water supply is not regular, we are forced to drink contaminated water from a nearby pond," said Jatadhari Rout, a resident of Jhola Sahi.
"The civic body took no steps to repair the defunct tubewells before the onset of summer," said Sandhya Das, a resident of Rausapatna.
The situation is worse at Jobra and Jagatpur, where people are not getting the daily quota of piped water.
"Water scarcity is not a new for our area. But nothing has been done in all these years to solve it. Water is supplied at a gap of two days. We are managing the situation with much difficulty," said Raghunath Dalei, a resident of Jobra.
The Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC) admitted to the problem and claimed measures are being taken to provide relief to the denizens.
"Due to depleting groundwater table and voltage fluctuation, the motor pumps are not functioning properly in some areas. At least 20 tankers are engaged to supply water in the affected localities," said chairman of CMC standing committee on public health Ranjan Biswal.
CMC commissioner Gyana Ranjan Das said the engineering department and public health engineering organization (PHEO) have been urged to repair the defunct tubewells at the earliest. "The PHEO will sink 100 more tubewells in the city to tide over the water scarcity. The engineers have been asked to arrange for generators at Jobra to ensure that motor pumps run properly," he said.