Day 6 of water crisis forces Gurgaon residents to forgo baths
The water crisis entered the sixth day on Friday and with little water left in storage tanks in the Basai plant, Huda did not release any water in the morning.
Eighty four-year-old RK Sharma of DLF City Phase 1 had his worst birthday ever on Friday. He did not have water supply for the last three days nor did he receive any support from the civic agencies.
“The situation is bad here. I was not able to shave, forget about bathing. The only respite is buying water in a tanker, which costs Rs. 1,500 for 4,000 litres. This is how the government treats senior citizens,” Sharma said.
The water crisis entered the sixth day on Friday and with little water left in storage tanks in the Basai plant, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (Huda) did not release any water in the morning. However, 18 MGD water was released in the evening.
On Friday, the Huda released a notice with details of a helpline that has been set up at the office of the executive engineer, Huda division 3, Sector 14. “The helpline number is 0124-4053924. This line will be manned round the clock. Any resident facing shortage of water can contact on this number,” the notice said.
Dr. Arpan Gandhi of DLF Phase 2 said, “Residents are being ignored by owners of water tankers. They either do not answer calls or switch off phones.”
Residents across the city said the situation could not get any worse. Ramesh Vashisth of Sector 15 said, “Living without other things is alright, but water is the most important commodity that human beings need.”
A Huda official said the situation will remain the same for a few more days as the Basai plant was receiving water from Gurgaon water channel (GWC) slowly. Also, it takes about eight hours to treat water. The Huda is trying to create a buffer stock before restoring normal supply of 70 millions of gallons per day (MGD).
Huda sub-divisional officer Subhash Piplani said, “Today, we did not release water in the morning. Only 18 MGD water was supplied in the evening, which is 35% of what the demand.”
On Thursday, Gurgaon received 15MGD water supply, and 25MGD on Tuesday and Wednesday.