Dhanbad: Residents in the coal town of Dhanbad are facing an acute water crisis for the last five days after a drinking water supply pipeline leaked in Deoli area of Govindpur. Around 10 days ago, a minor leakage was spotted in the pipeline of Maithon Water Supply scheme, but lack of repair lead to the pipe to burst on October 24.
Munna Singh, a resident of Barmasia locality, said, “The festival this year was badly affected due to a water crisis as people remained busy procuring water, which is a basic need.”
“Such was the situation that we had to purchase water for bathing besides drinking on Navami and Dashmi before going to temples,” Singh said.
Mannan Sinha, a resident of Hirapur, said, “We have a 2,000 litre overhead tank and if we knew there will be a crisis of water, we would have ensured judicious use. We could have managed at least a week. The authorities not only failed to repair the leakage immediately, but also did not inform the people when the crisis will be over.”
An extensive repair work was launched on Tuesday and around 11am on Wednesday, another leakage was spotted. Repair works continued, but normal water supply is likely to restored only by Wednesday evening when all the 19 towers are filled, said Manish Kumar, executive engineer of the drinking water and sanitation department.