Residents stage sit-in against disruption in water supply

Residents of old Guntur staged a sit-in on the Ponnur Road here with empty vessels on Monday protesting against the continued disruption in water supply to several areas.

They demanded immediate restoration of water supply.

Traffic on the Guntur Bapatla Chirala road was disrupted for over an hour before Municipal Commissioner Srikesh.B. Latkar assured the residents that water supply would be restored by Monday evening.

Attributing the disruption of water supply to delay in interlinking of main water pipeline from Takkellaladu to the feeder lines in Anandapet, the Commissioner said that water supply has been restored by Monday evening. The work is part of Comprehensive Water Project taken up with a cost of ₹400 crore to provide round-the-clock water supply to the city and its surrounding areas but the grounding of the project had been delayed.

Extensive repair works

The GMC has also undertaken extensive repair works in several areas in Anandapet following a massive outbreak of diarrhoea which had left more than 20 people dead. All the existing and corroded water pipelines have been replaced with new ones as part of a massive restoration work.

The GMC has announced that water supply would be disrupted for two days beginning Friday to facilitate interlinking of main pipeline with the residential lines, but the delay has sparked protests from the people.

The city gets 120 MLD of water from the two filtration plants at Takkellapadu. Filtered water is then pumped to elevated service reservoirs and then is sent through the pipelines. GMC officials who have been carrying repairs to the pipelines, say that water supply would be affected in more areas as interlinking of water pipelines might take some time.