Water crisis forces people to shift to relatives' houses in Allahabad

28 November, 2012

In Allahabad, people are shifting to the homes of their relatives, not because of any cyclone threat, but because of acute water shortage in the city, especially the old parts. Even though the Jal Sansthan department claims that its officials are working hard to solve the issue, nothing good has come out so far for the affected people.

THE CONTINUING water crisis in the city has forced many residents to take shelter at their relatives' homes. Irked resident of Dariyabad locality, Abdul Rahman said that his elder brother's wife along with her children recently shifted to her parent's house in Kareli due to acute water crisis in their locality. Similar was the case with his neighbour, he added.

The family of one of my cousins residing in this locality also decided to move to Dandipur a few days back as they were not getting adequate water for their daily needs. Around a dozen families in the locality have moved to other places in the city because of shortage of water, which seems to be a perennial problem, added Rajeev, another resident of the same area.

He further said that there were around 100 families in Dariyabad locality, which were facing water crisis due to the water negligence of Jal Sansthan who are aware of the problem but have not paid any attention for resolving the issue.

Lamenting over the situation, a resident of Unchawagarhi, in Rajapur locality, Ashutosh Rai said that he along with his wife and two children have shifted to her parents' house in Chhota Baghara locality after a month of struggle to manage with the nominal water supply.

Many other localities in the city, especially in the old areas are facing the same situation. While Jal Sansthan officials claim they are sincerely working on the problem, water woes are spreading to other part of the city.

Jal Sansthan officials recently claimed they had launched a drive to repair defunct hand pumps and make newly installed tube wells functional, but there is no respite for people yet. However, one of the officials of Jal Sansthan admitted that there was a water crisis in various parts of the city and assured that soon this problem will be solved and the acute situation would be addressed at the earliest, he added.