GUWAHATI: It has come to light that the Assam State Housing Board’s (ASHB) beneficiaries at Ghoramara in the city are facing the brunt of the Board’s negligence itself. The apartment reportedly is also occupied by illegal residents. Sources in ASHB, however, revealed that it has initiated moves to evict the illegal occupants.
“Out of the 320 households, around 100 households are illegal occupants of the apartment. We have served notice to the occupants and soon necessary steps will be taken against them,” ASHB Vice Chairman, Subhas Dutta told G Plus.
The State Housing Board has been carrying out eviction drives and officials confirmed that the eviction would continue over the coming days. The board has also been adopting stern measures to recover pending loans from defaulters.
Subhas Dutta has however assured of a long term solution which would take another one and half year.
“The water shortage problem at Pragjyotish Housing Complex at Ghoramara is a long standing one. Due to the harsh condition of the ground water of the particular area the filtration system of the apartment has failed to work for a long time. There have been several repairs and maintenance of the filters done in the past but to no avail,” Dutta told G Plus.
“There is another problem concerning the boring facilities of the apartment. There are only two bores catering to the need of the residents. We are also thinking of a long term solution. We are waiting for the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)-funded water supply project to come up. Only after the project is implemented the water shortage problem, wherever necessary, can be sorted out,” Dutta added.
In order to provide affordable, reliable, safe, pressurized and continuous supply of water to the Guwahati metropolitan area, Dispur had taken up the JICA-funded water supply project for the north and south-central regions. The JICA-funded water supply project is one of the four major water supply projects taken up by the Assam government.
Problem of Pragjyotish Apartment a long standing one
Pragjyotish Housing Society Complex is an apartment under ASHB accommodating 320 flats. The Board has failed to provide water to over 900 residents for more than 3 years now, all thanks to the two boring facilities that have stopped working. If somehow the motor works residents get water for about 10 minutes only.
Tired of asking ASHB officials, residents have installed tanks at their own expense and started buying water privately at Rs 250 per household per day for 750-1,000 litres of water.
“The two boring facilities of the apartment seldom work so there has been an acute water shortage for the residents. The problem has continued for over 3 years now. There have been multiple meetings held between the society committee members and ASHB officials concerning the problem, but nothing fruitful has been seen on ground,” Sunita Biswas, staying at Block A, lamented to G Plus.
“Two bores are not enough for 320 households. It sometimes becomes a daunting task to wash clothes and utensils out of meagre amount of water,” a maid who works at Biswas’s said.
“As many as 50 per cent of the families use the contaminated water that is red in colour that comes out of the taps. The rest buy water privately paying Rs. 250 per day. I stay at the F block. Residents of the F block are completely deprived of water. I am not sure if ASHB officials even care for the needy,” Dipak Borthakur, a resident said.
The residents of Pragjyotish Housing Complex pay Rs. 1,840 per household on rent to ASHB.
“When the motor starts working for two times a day we get running water for about 15 minutes; the water is red in colour. This has continued for more than 3 years. Finding no way out the residents have started procuring water privately. For drinking water the residents buy water bottles of 20-30 of litres. If there is a need of more water on certain occasions, residents call for water vans. If the private vans come late then there are other problems to be faced,” a resident said.
However, recently there were several rounds of meetings held between the society committee members and ASHB officials.
“In the meeting held recently we apprised ASHB officials of the problem along with other grievances. Water shortage has been plaguing the residents for more than 3 years. The filtration system has been the root cause of the problem. Even after change and repair in the filtration system several times earlier water shortage continues to be a problem. The residents have procured water tanks at their own expense and installed them on the roof top. The water procured privately is stored in those tanks,” society general secretary, Chandan Deka said.
