[ Bengia Ajum ]
ITANAGAR, 19 Jul: With the main water supply pipeline which supplies water to major parts of Itanagar being washed away at Poma, the people are facing a lot of trouble. The sweltering heat has further made life miserable for the denizens. Even though the public health engineering department (PHED) is engaging water tankers to provide drinking water, the people complain that it is not enough to meet the needs. In many areas they alleged that they are forced to buy water from private tankers.
The worst affected areas are Gohpur, Vivek Vihar, Economic & Statistic Colony, G Sector, Donyi Colony, Police Colony, SRPL Colony, DNGC area, Chandranagar, Chimpu, H Sector, RK Mission area and Akashdeep. The water pipeline was washed away on 7 July due to torrential rainfall. Since then, the department has been trying to restore the pipeline.
“We are working day and night but the weather is also not helping. Most of the time it rains which makes it difficult to work but we are onto it,” said an official of PHED.
With tanker service not able to mitigate the water crisis, people have been left with no choice but to look for other means to meet the demands. While some have been forced to buy water from private tankers, others are dependent on natural streams.
“The supply from PHED tankers is erratic. They come once in two days and the volume of water provided by them is also not enough to meet our needs. We have been left with no option but to buy water from private tankers. The situation is deeply frustrating,” said a resident of Itanagar.
People have also appealed to the state government to look into the water crisis seriously. “Every year during
monsoon, the pipeline from Poma gets damaged due to rainfall and people suffer. Why can’t the government start making a long term plan to find a permanent solution to this problem? Population is also growing and therefore there is a need to find new water sources,” the resident added.
In some areas the natural streams have become lifelines for the people. From morning to till evening people can be seen coming to these streams to collect water in their respective vehicles.
