The drinking water crisis since last week has affected a large area of Guwahati East constituency, the only urban constituency in the state.
However, the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) has not taken any immediate steps to address the issue despite repeated complaints.
GMC water supply is disrupted frequent in areas like Chandmari and Silpukhuri.
Residents allege that the corporation cites technical / mechanical snags for obstructions and does not address important issues such as the service of line supervisors or excessive commissioning of pipelines from water reservoirs.
A local resident of Rudranagar told TOI, “One of the linemen comes to the reservoir from Hajo, which is 35km and the other travels over 45km from Khetri, on the outskirts of the city, to the reservoir located on top of the Navagraha hill. Therefore, they reach the reservoir around 10am or 11am while they are supposed to be on duty from 8am. Moreover, you will find the linemen inebriated at anytime.”
A lineman is responsible for supplying water from a reservoir by opening the doors of water pipelines (also called keys, installed at reservoir) on a daily / alternate day basis for a specified period of time.
He said that most of the residents of Rudra Nagar and Krishna Nagar Nagar areas, where about 400 families live, got water for the last time on June 27.
Residents say the linemen demand money from customers to open the lines. He added, “You give them Rs 100, you will get water for the entire day If you do not pay, you will not get water. We urge the authority concerned and the minister to look into the matter as we are paying water bills every month but not getting any supply.”
A GMC source said that the water reservoir and Satpukhuri Water Treatment Plant (WTP) in the Uzan Bazaar area of the city lost its engineering life 30 years ago, from where water is pumped into the reservoir.
