Kolkata: The Water Supply department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has augmented the number of trips of its water tankers by 30 per cent per day to cater to the huge demand for water amidst the continuing spell of sweltering heat in the city.
“We have 125 odd water tankers in our fleet which usually does 1000 trips per day during summer. But to meet the rising water demand, we have increased the number of trips by 30 per cent. To date, there has been no major complaint related to water supply issues even during these hostile summer conditions. If required, we will be augmenting the trips further,” a senior official of KMC’s Water Supply department said.
The official added that the maximum demand is being generated from the added areas of the city where citizens are still dependent on tubewells. The water table of the tubewells has gone down drastically due to extreme heat and so, we are providing more support to these areas that including places like EM Bypass, Baghajatin, Jadavpur, Naktala, Garia, etc.
“We have earmarked a good number of tankers in our fleet for the tubewell zones, considering the heatwave leading to depletion of groundwater,” the official added.
Councillor of Ward No. 101, Bappaditya Dasgupta said that for the last 10 days, his ward has been facing the ordeal of power cuts which is contributing to the water crisis.
“We have no problem with the source of water but the residents have been struggling to draw water at the time of supply owing to power cuts. The CESC has installed three temporary generators but that too has not changed the situation much,” Dasgupta added.
The Water Supply department since March has laid March special emphasis on immediate repair and maintenance work anticipating the summer.
Strict instructions have been given for the repair of pipeline leakage or collapse or the repair of tubewells in 24 hours’ time so that the citizens are
not inconvenienced.