Six more water tanks ‘not cleaned for over 5 years’ in Gurugram

GURUGRAM: Weeks after TOI reported that four water tanks have not been cleaned in the last three years, six more such tanks have been found.

While three of these have not been cleaned since 2013, the other three have not been cleaned in the past seven years. According to an RTI response, three water tanks catering to sectors 5, 3 and 6; Sector 12 & 12A; Sector 18 (industrial area) and 18 (electronic city), have not been cleaned since 2013. Other three of sectors 21, 22 and 23 & 23A were last cleaned in 2011.

“We are continuously getting contaminated water. Residents often complain of stinky water. The problem is so acute that we have been visiting the tanks ourselves. Some labourers who live close by to an underground tank in Sector 23 told us that the closed tank sometimes smells extremely bad because lizards and insects have easy access to it,” said Saksham Kalia, a resident of Sector 3.

The residents said that despite paying maintenance and regular charges, they are forced to consume water stored in unclean tanks. “As per the norms, water tanks should be cleaned once every three months and details about the same must be put up on the notice board. Shockingly, the notice board at each underground and overhead water tank mentions ‘2011’ under ‘date of cleaning’. Huda had last year announced that all water tanks (underground and overhead) will be cleaned before March 2018,” said Aseem Takyar, who had filed the RTI application.

While sources in Huda informed that some sectors were transferred to MCG last year, MCG officials didn’t provide any information on the cleaning of the tanks.

“The water is being chlorinated regularly. We can’t give you the exact date when the tanks were cleaned last time,” said an MCG official, requesting anonymity.