Ghaziabad: Thousands in Khoda protest for drinking water

The water level in Khoda has depleted alarmingly as people use shared submersible pumps to draw out drinking water or purchase water cans daily

Thousands of residents of Khoda locality in Ghaziabad on Thursday staged a protest demanding proper drinking water supply to all households.

The Khoda locality, located next to UP-Gate, is home to about 45,000 households who do not have provision of tapped water supply (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

To highlight their condition and hardship, they have decided to take out a cycle march of about 500 kilometres up to Lucknow to meet Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, residents said.

The Khoda locality, located next to UP-Gate, has about 45,000 households and none of them has provision for tapped water supply, residents said.

Residents there are primarily dependent on submersible pumps and private water suppliers to meet their daily requirement.

“Thursday’s protest was against public representatives who have let us down and not provided us drinking water,” said Deepak Joshi from Khoda Residents’ Association.

“It has been almost a decade since residents started demanding tapped supply. Now, we will proceed on cycle to Lucknow on June 15 and try to meet the chief minister and tell him about our problems,” he said.

In November last year, residents had staged a fortnight-long “indefinite hunger strike” to press their demands.

“The water table level in Khoda has depleted alarmingly as people use shared submersible pumps to draw out drinking water. Many also resort to purchasing water cans daily and these come at a cost. For other chores, we are dependent on private tankers. The groundwater is not fit to drink,” Joshi said.

Residents complained that they are compelled to buy at least two 20-litre water jars every day.

“This is how our families meet daily drinking water requirements. No one is listening to our woes. A major share of our household budget goes to buying drinking water,” said Narendra Singh Bisht, a resident.

Khoda colony houses middle and lower-income group people who work in factories and private offices in Noida, Ghaziabad, and Delhi.

According to district administration estimates, the daily drinking water requirement in Khoda is about 10 cusecs.

Officials of Khoda municipal council informed that a drinking water project for supply of Ganga water to Khoda has been approved.

“The project, which was approved in December 2023, will cost about ₹208 crore including five years maintenance. We are now waiting for work to start. In the meantime, we have deployed 70 water tankers, two in each of the 35 residential wards, for supply of drinking water,” said KK Mishra, executive officer of Khoda municipal council.