Gurgaon: New Palam Vihar residents demand water supply lines - Hindustan Times
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Gurgaon: New Palam Vihar residents demand water supply lines

Hindustan Times | By, Gurgaon
Mar 29, 2017 11:45 PM IST

The families, most of whom are migrants, have been living in Palam Vihar for over two decades and rely on ground water to meet their daily needs.

More than 15,000 families residing in New Palam Vihar have written to the Haryana government seeking urgent water supply lines. Fearing a supply shortfall with the onset of summer, the residents have even approached their local elected representatives in a bid to highlight their plight and step up pressure on the government to do the needful.

More than 15,000 families in New Palam Vihar have been battling lack of adequate water supply.(HT FILE PHOTO)
More than 15,000 families in New Palam Vihar have been battling lack of adequate water supply.(HT FILE PHOTO)

The families, most of whom are migrants, have been living in Palam Vihar for over two decades and rely on ground water to meet their daily needs. However, the ground water in the area is not deemed safe for drinking and the digging of bore wells too, is banned. The residents said they have little option but to purchase water from private suppliers.

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Azad Kataria, member, Veterans’ Association, New Palam Vihar, said, “We met our MLA, Rao Narbir, and urged him to take up our plight with the government and ensure supply of clean water at the earliest. Though this area lacks in other civic amenities as well, water is a basic need and we simply can’t do without it. The water that we are drinking presently isn’t potable and doesn’t get any safer even after being filtered.”

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In 2005 - ’06, the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) banned the digging of bore wells in Gurgaon district. The residents said that while the old bore wells have either dried up or not in a state to hold clean water, they are not at liberty to bore new ones to meet their daily needs.

“Two water purifiers that I had installed over the last eight years were damaged because of the excessive levels of TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) in the ground water here. With even filters and purifiers not being of much help here, we had to source water from private suppliers. It’s hard to imagine such misery for the residents of a city like Gurgaon, which has a world class airport, highways, expressways and top MNCs. I can only hope that the Haryana government will take a considered view of the plight of 15,000 - 20,000 residents of New Palam Vihar and do the needful,” BL Thussu, who migrated to New Palam Vihar from his native Jammu and Kashmir 25 years ago, said.

However, the colony in New Palam Vihar is unauthorised and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG) has sent a proposal to the urban local bodies in Haryana seeking their sanction to turn it into a regularised colony.

Rao Narbir, local MLA and the PWD minister, said, “I have received a memorandum from residents and am aware that the quality of ground water here is bad. I have taken due cognisance of the plight of residents and will do the needful.”

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Dhananjay Jha writes on development authorities, transport, industries, power and other developmental issues in Gurgaon. A journalist for over a decade, he has worked in Delhi and in HT’s Noida bureau.

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