Lucknow: Access to clean water supply a big challenge - Hindustan Times
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Lucknow: Access to clean water supply a big challenge

Hindustan Times, Lucknow | By, Lucknow
Nov 24, 2017 10:47 AM IST

Every political party contesting the civic elections is promising 24X7 water supply to the residents, perhaps because all are aware that access to clean, safe, regular and reliable water supply is a major challenge in several areas of this sprawling city of Lucknow.

Every political party contesting the civic elections is promising 24X7 water supply to the residents, perhaps because all are aware that access to clean, safe, regular and reliable water supply is a major challenge in several areas of this sprawling city of Lucknow.

Water crisis in Indira Nagar and Chinhat has become a routine affair after the closure of Sharda Canal for repairs and Kathauta lake going dry.
Water crisis in Indira Nagar and Chinhat has become a routine affair after the closure of Sharda Canal for repairs and Kathauta lake going dry.

Just a week back Indira Nagar, the biggest colony of Asia was suffering severe water crisis. Today areas like Khadra , Indira Nagar A block , Balaganj, Mari Mata Mandir, Rakabganj, Birhana, Moulviganj, Nazeerabad and Golaganj are running dry.

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In fact, the water crisis in Indira Nagar and Chinhat has become a routine affair after the closure of Sharda Canal for repairs and Kathauta lake going dry.

But water scarcity in Mouviganj, Birhana, Balaganj, Golaganj and Thakurganj can easily be attributed to local reasons and laxity of Jal Sansthan staff. All these areas receive just an hour’s supply in the morning and two hours’ in the evening. In some places, residents have to store water at night for their household chores.

The water crisis this year in Indira Nagar, consisting of 25 blocks with a total population of around 4 lakh, was due to lack of coordination between the irrigation department and the Jal Sansthan said corporator from Indira Nagar Mukesh Singh Chauhan, whose wife is contesting the civic election this time.

“I ran from pillar to post in every government department to get the water released from Sharda Canal to Kathauta for solving the water supply crisis in Indira Nagar but both the departments kept on shelving the issue,” said Chauhan.

“Why doesn’t the government department chalk out a strategy to stop the suffering of 4 lakh residents when it knows that the canal goes into repairs every year in mid October for 20 days? Why can’t the capacity of Kathauta Lake be increased or why can’t the lake be repaired within 15 days , so that the stored water is not exhausted? Water consumption of the area is increasing every year by 15 to 20 % while storage capacity of the lake remains the same. The planners will have to think over this increasing demand too. Either they should come out with another waterworks or rejuvenate the network of tube-wells,” he said.

Singh accused the Jal Sansthan officials of sleeping over the complaints of residents, as it informed the irrigation department about shortage of water in the Kathauta Lake on November 14. After that, the water was released in the next 48 hours.

However, Moulviganj, Rakabganj, Mashakganj, Yahiyaganj, Nakkhas, Balaganj and Hussainganj suffered water scarcity because of poor pressure and age old pipelines which required immediate change, said Said-ur- Rehman, corporator from Moulviganj. “The area is situated on elevated land, that’s why the pressure of water is low and residents get supply after midnight. This problem needs to be fixed and for that new technology of boosting water pressure must be adopted,” he said.

Jal Sansthan general manager AK Varma said, “The problem of Kathauta Lake has been solved and now water supply in Indira Nagar (barring some areas) is normalized. Jal Sansthan is planning to increase the capacity of Kathauta Lake so that it can store more water. For the old city the Jal Sansthan is trying to install some new tube-wells which can generate more pressure in selected areas where the water reaches only at night.”

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  • ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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    Anupam Srivastava is a Special Correspondent with Hindustan Times, Lucknow. Has produced exclusive stories in medical, civil aviation, civic, political and other issues for over 20 years.

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