People protest non-supply of water during summer days
Berhampur: Residents of Marthapeta Street in the silk city staged a protest on Thursday against disruption of water supply to their area for the last two days. The protesters, placing empty pots and buckets on the road, demanded immediate supply of water.
"Water supply to our area was stopped for the last two days without any prior intimation. Several people in the area suffered a lot due to it," said Swarnalata, a woman. "As there is no alternative source, we were forced to buy bottled water for drinking," said Mami, another woman.Residents said they informed engineers of
Water Corporation of Odisha
(WATCO), Berhampur, about non-supply of water to their areas on Wednesday. As no action was taken to solve the crisis, they were forced to stage a protest, they added.
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Water was supplied to the area through water tankers on the intervention of MLA (Berhampur) K. Anil Kumar. General manager, Watco, Berhampur, Bikash Chandra Padhy said water supply to a portion of Marthapeta Street is hit from Wednesday due to replacement of pipe in Nilanchal Sahi, an area that adjoins Marthapeta.
"Some families were affected," he said."Work is going on in full swing and is expected to be completed soon. We will supply water through the pipe to the area as soon as the work is completed. Currently, there is no scarcity of water in the city," he added.Watco is supplying around 70 to 80 million litres of water daily to the city from the water supply projects at Jagadalpur and Dakshinpur. The water level of reservoirs improved following the recent rains in the district, he said.In Feb last year, govt inaugurated the 'drink from tap' system, aiming to supply water to all 55,261 households in Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) to get 24X7 water supply through the taps.
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