Nagpur:Two overhead water tanks stand tall in this far corner of East Nagpur but a population of one lakh people is being starved of water regularly. Citizens in Prabhag 25 adjacent to Bhandara Road struggle for water as Nagpur Municipal Corporation and Nagpur Improvement Trust are found bereft of concrete measure tackle the problem.
The Prabhag 25 consists of Rambhumi Society, Dhanlaxmi Nagar, Ambe Nagar, Maruti Society, Girjanagar, Shende Nagar, Samata Nagar, Gruhlaxmi Nagar, Swagat Nagar, Sundar Nagar, Bhole Nagar, Deep Nagar, Hatwar Layout, Thawkarwadi, Navin Nagar, and Shyam Nagar. Around one lakh people reside in these localities but they are deprived of water supply regularly. The two overhead water tanks constructed in 2004 are mute testimony to the harassment of residents as no pipeline is in place for supply of water to households.
The Prabhag 25 Corporator Purshottam Hazare has been raising the water shortage issue before NMC and NIT bosses since the past five years. His voice is going unheard as no steps are being initiated to mitigate the problem of residents. What is ironic is that the entire Prabhag has been included as part of Smart City project. According to Hazare, water is supplied to the localities through 200-odd tankers once in three days at a time when the need is 400 or 450 tankers. The charges for water supplied to the residents are recovered from the residents by including them in the annual Property Tax bills, Hazare stated.
