Residents suffer as taps run dry in many city areas

On Tuesday, angry women kept their buckets and utensils on roads and sat on protest. They also broke their earthen pots on the road to register their protest.

Water supply is badly affected in Ram Nagar, Kishor Pura and about a dozen other localities since the past two days. On Tuesday morning, several localities in Lohamandi and Rajamandi areas didn't receive any water supply. Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Rajamandi, said, "Men, women and children were seen staying awake all night waiting for the water supply to come. In some areas, people were seen queuing up at 3 am near water taps. But they were left high and dry as not a single drop of water was supplied. The authorities concerned have not taken any step to rectify the problem. We are having a tough time."

Gali Rangrejan, Chipathi, Mansa Devi, Kans Gate, Gokul Pura, Bara Charan Singh, Aheer Phada, Balka Basti, among others received no water supply or very less supply in the past two days. Jagdish Pura, Kishor Pura, Ram Nagar areas have a population of more than 45,000 people. Since the past 25 days water supply is affected, leading to a crisis of some sort in the areas. Patience of the local women broke on Tuesday. They kept their buckets and utensils on the road and sat on protest blocking the road. Angry women also broke their earthen pots on the road to register their protest.

Sheela Devi, a local, said, "We will not cast our votes for any politician this time, because they only come during the time of election. People are suffering due to inadequate supply of water but none of the so-called leaders have come to help us in time of crises. More than three weeks have passed since we have washed our clothes. Taking a bath daily is out of question."

Ram Beti, another local, said "The whole schedule of people in the area has gone haywire due to the water crisis. People are seen trying to arrange some water the whole day to meet their requirements. Children are not able to go to school. There is no hand pump in my locality. The summer pumps have also failed as the groundwater also dipped. Authorities are not interested in making arrangements to tackle the water crisis. Politicians have also not visited us. We have decided not to allow them enter in our localities."

Members of the Akhil Bharatiya Grahak Panchayat, Agra, led by the organization's district head Murari Lal, handed over a memorandum to the general manger of Jal Sansthan demanding that drinking water suply should be ensured at any cost. Manju Gupta, general manager (GM), Jal Sansthan, said, "We are trying to ensure that adequate water is supplied to every area in the city. We are trying to make the supply normal at the earliest."

TOI has reported that large volume of water goes waste because of leakages in supply pipelines.