Christian Basti residents paying through their noses for water

Guwahati is one of the fastest growing cities of northeast India. The haphazard growth of the city has resulted in a chaotic situation giving rise to circumstances not favorable to its residents in many aspects. Amongst these, drinking water is the most crucial problem confronting the residents.   Being situated on the banks of the Brahmaputra River, Guwahati still has an abundant source of water. However, the increase in population and associated matters increased the pressure on resources leading to over exploitation of existing underground water sources. Now water scarcity has become a nightmare for a large chunk of the population.    One of the worst affected areas is Christian Basti (Ward 19). Until the 1980s, the area had immense supply of ground water with shallow bores of 100-250 feet depth installed. However, the unplanned development of the area resulted in the creation of a concrete jungle. The construction of apartments and showrooms left no open space for water to seep in and the groundwater to recharge. This led to the exhaustion of the groundwater reserves. Mr. Sikaria, a resident of the area since decades, said, “We were one of the few families that resided in this area in the 1980s. At that time there was no water scarcity and we depended only on groundwater for our water supply. But now the area has developed immensely and there is hardly any water left underground.”    Now, the apartments have deep bores installed that sink to around 1,500 ft below ground level. Even then there’s access to negligible or no groundwater. Government pipeline supply is also unavailable in the area. Thus, the households depend on private tankers for water.      Every day the tankers reach the apartments and refill the tanks. Meters are installed that record the consumption by each individual household and they are accordingly required to pay for the amount of water used. This burdens the residents with enormous amount of water bills. The amount per litre differs from apartment to apartment, ranging from Rs. 0.15 per litre to Rs. 2.5 per litre. On an average, a four member household pays water bill amounting to Rs 2,000 per month. Larger families use much more water and their bills amount to as much as Rs 10,000 per month. A resident of MG Path, Mr. Jain said, “Our monthly water bill sums up to Rs. 2,000-2500 per month with only 3 members in the family.” Mr. Gupta has a family of 6 members and said, “Our per unit water charge is very high compared to other apartments in the area and we pay a hefty bill of Rs. 7,000-8,000 per month.”   Mr. Ghosh, one of the area members of Christian Basti said, “Currently the government is not doing anything regarding the water problem in the locality. We know that there are a lot of problems in the area, but it’s in the hands of Jal Board, which is not looking into the matter.” Talking to the area members of Ward 19 we also found that GMDA has not been looking into the matter saying that there isn’t much they can do. And the old urban water supply system of GMC has gone into the hands of Jal board, which again, is neglecting the problems being faced by the residents of the area. The old pipelines are also not in proper working conditions.   Although the World Bank has promised to initiate urban water supply project to facilitate the people in the area, it still has a long way to go before the implementation of the project. While the director had said that they would implement the project by 2016, the year has come to an end and work hasn’t yet resumed.   Stay updated on the go with GPlus News. Click here to download the app for your device.