Save every drop drive goes for a toss at Chintal

Chintal Basti: Water leaking from drinking water pipeline is causing inconvenience to the commuters and children due to the creation of a drain pool at the playground of Chintal Basti located behind the Sri Ram Hanuman temple. The water leakage is a regular phenomenon here and none of the concerned authorities bats an eye. 

The enormous quantity of water getting wasted every alternate day has invoked anger among the residents against the apathy displayed by the officials. “The authorities have turned a blind eye to the issue. On one hand the government spends huge amounts on save water awareness campaigns and on other it does not resolve the grave issue.   This is happening in a city where we face much water scarcity issues, this astonishes me” says Jagannatha, a 64-year-old resident.  

Notably, complaints have been filed at water board, but the officials are yet to respond.  Even a written complaint lodged with the Water Board on December 25 by the locals failed to awake the officials to the problem as the water continues to leak unabated. As per the Citizen Charter, any grievance should be addressed in two days. However, even after ten days, there has been no proper response from the authority, in a grave violation of the procedure. The manager who is accountable for the same is not willing to respond to the properly filed complaint. The unwillingness of authorities to act upon a serious issue even after making a series of requests is actually questioning the rights of a citizen.

Moreover, the issue is not confined to the wastage of drinking water. The water leakage indicates a crack in the drinking water pipeline. There is a high probability of drinking water getting contaminated through these cracks. If the authorities are not willing to act on war footing basis this could lead to a spread of a water-borne epidemic.