BHUBANESWAR: Residents of
Niladri Vihar area in the city on Saturday staged demonstration at
Niladri Vihar square here demanding supply of
drinking water to their houses.
They staged dharna at Niladri Vihar ATM chak for an hour by placing empty pots and buckets as mark of their protest. The agitators belong to
Mangala Basti of the Niladri Vihar area.
A protestor said they do not get water two times a day. “We face difficulties in getting drinking water in our slum. The
Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) does not look into our problems because we live in slums,” said Prabhat Kumar Sethi, a slum dweller.
The government has started implementing the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) in the city to ensure that every household has access to a tap with assured supply of water and a sewerage connection. “But the slum people are yet to get such facilities,” he added.
Sethi said the public health engineering organization (PHEO), which looks after the water supply issues in the city, has snapped the old water connection to provide new connection. But it is yet to be completed, he added.
Ward 14 corporator Debiprasad Mallick said localities like Mangala Basti, Ishaneswar Basti and Omfed Basti usually face water issues during summer season. Keeping these issues in mind, the BMC has laid pipes under Amrut scheme to supply water to households. “Pipe laying work is over. Water supply will be started within five days,” he added.
PHEO superintending engineer C R Jena declined to comment on the issue.
