Power trips affect water supply to key areas of Gurugram

Frequent tripping of power at the Basai water treatment plant and the Sector 16 boosting station in the last three to four days has severely affected water supply to DLF 1-5, Sushant Lok-1, South City-1, Suncity, MG Road, sectors 14, 17 and 54.

Residents said that the morning, as well as evening supply, has been hit for the last few days. “The GMDA should ensure zero power cuts at plants and boosting stations. Water supply is an essential service and should be zero-tolerant to tripping,” said SS Rai, a resident of Sushant Lok1.

The Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA), which is the master water supplier to the city and custodian authority of the Basai plant and boosting station, took up the issue with the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), an official said.

“There are were 15 instances of tripping — of two to three minutes each — at the boosting station during the three days. Each instance shuts the supply at least for one to two hours, since all the six motors get stopped in one go and we restart each motor, in 10 to 15-minute intervals, so that they do not get damaged and the pipeline does not get badly affected with sudden water pressure. It then takes a while for the water to reach the areas at the end from the boosting station,” a GMDA official, not authorised to speak with the media, said.

Residents of DLF 3, who have already been reeling under water crisis for a few weeks, threatened to take to the streets on Sunday. However, the supply improved by Saturday evening.

“The situation improved on Saturday. The supply has somewhat normalised since Saturday afternoon and we hope it will remain so. We experienced bad and erratic water supply throughout the summer, mainly because of erratic power cuts at Sector 16 boosting station. We hired private tankers for the last three days,” said Suresh Singh, DLF 3 resident.

A meeting is scheduled today between the officials of GMDA and DHBVN in this regard, as a five-hour power cut on Thursday had affected supply at the Basai plant.

“We have called a meeting with the DHBVN in this regard,” said Lalit Arora, GMDA chief engineer.

First Published: Aug 25, 2019 19:55 IST