Chennai: Residents of Puzhuthivakkam, Chennai, are facing severe water crisis as ground water has gone completely dry. With Metro Water services coming to a near halt in the neighbourhood, the most affected are the people from lower economic strata, state residents.
Vaanmadhi, a resident of Puzhuthivakkam said, “We can’t afford to buy lorry water. Ground water and Metro Water was all we had and now there is no water available from both those sources. We are given only three buckets of water every day, for a family, irrespective of the number of family members. Every day, we have to stand in long queues to get water for our families. More than 350 families are dependent on this one tank. There is fight and chaos everyday to get water. Many days, we don’t get water, as the water is distributed on a ‘first come, first serve’ basis.”
“Metro Water supply was stopped more than a month ago. We all paid in thousands to get the connection and even now we are paying the water tax, but we don’t get any water, not even to take care of basic needs,” she added.
Sujatha, a resident of the same locality, while waiting for her turn to get water said, “People who have money and a sump buy water from private tankers. Other people, buy water at the rate of Rs 10, from the houses near Mount Station, where ground water is available. Unfortunately, women like us who can’t afford to pay for private tanker water walk for more than three kilometers to get two buckets of potable water.”
Explaining the dire situation on her part was Manjula, a resident of Chidambaranar Street. “I work as a daily wage labourer and I can’t even think of paying money for water. We struggle so much for paying monthly rent and other expenses. So, these pumps in the roadside are the only solution. But even these pumps don’t give sufficient water. I have to pump for an hour to get one bucket as the water flow is very thin. We can’t blame anyone,” she said.