Power-hungry Gurgaon now thirsty for water

With power cuts lasting as long as ten to eleven hours in a day, residents of Gurgaon are now staring at a hot and unbearable summer ahead.

With power cuts lasting as long as ten to eleven hours in a day, residents of Gurgaon are now staring at a hot and unbearable summer ahead.

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Unpredictable outages have consequently spawned another problem — water shortage.

“It’s as if long hours without electricity in this heat weren’t enough,” said Amar Singh Huda, vice chairperson of Joint Action Forum of Resident Welfare Association, an umbrella body of all Resident Welfare Associations of Sector 23.

“Now, water has also become a problem. Everything here has been thrown out of order.”

While residents have been asking for scheduled power cuts to alleviate their problems, state-owned Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) says it’s helpless at the moment as it is facing a supply shortage of about 42 per cent.

“We are supplying 80 lakh units of electricity in Gurgaon against the demand of about 140 lakh,” said an official of DHBVN, who did not wish to be identified.

“If even one of the generating units develops a snag, as it did today (Saturday), the problem only gets worse.”

Residents, as a result, have been left to fend for themselves. Many have started purchasing water from private tankers.

“We are now paying through our nose for a facility that is actually the responsibility of the civic authorities,” said R.S. Rathi, a resident of DLF complex, Qutub Enclave.

“Right now the private tankers are charging as much as Rs 600 to Rs 700 per household for supplying about 3000 to 4000 litres of water. This double of what they normally charge.”