Residents of 2 colonies, flats face acute water shortage

LUDHIANA: Residents of Mann Colony, Gill Colony, and Giaspura flats in Ward No.31 are facing an acute shortage of water supply over the past two months. In Gill and Mann colonies, people are also troubled with contamination of water supply since the past two months, while in Giaspura flats, the tubewell motor developed a technical snag. Councillor Sonia Sharma and her husband arranged a private tractor to supply water in the localities with the help of water tankers on Sunday.

Homemaker Paramjit Kaur of Gill Colony complained: “There is a severe problem of contamination for the past two months, but nobody is paying heed to our complaints. Now, it is the season of water-borne diseases, and we fear outbreak of some disease in the locality.” She said they were facing shortage of water supply in the locality, but officials only cleaned sewerage lines, and went back without detecting the problem.

Echoing a similar opinion, Mann Colony resident Gurpartap Singh said their area was an industrial area, and they were getting polluted water for the past two months, about which they had complained to the councillor as well as officials, but nobody came to resolve the issue. He said in such hot and humid weather, they were forced to drink the dirty water.

Councillor Sharma blamed officials for not paying heed to the problems of the public, despite several complaints. She even alleged officials were not responding to phone calls, and she had brought the matter to the knowledge of MC commissioner Jaskiran Singh, while conducting a protest at the A zone office on Friday. She said 17 candidates had elected her the councillor, and people had shown trust in her, but due to failure of officials in fulfilling their duty, she was unable to face the public.

However, Operation and Maintenance cell executive engineer of MC’s Zone C, Harmesh Lal, refuted the allegations of not accepting phone calls, and said despite it being a Sunday, he answered all calls, but did not receive a call from any councillor. Regarding the water problem, he said they had deputed employees for finding faults in the area, and it would be resolved shortly, while the tubewell motor would also be fixed on Monday.