The Hindu 06.05.2010
Water supply erratic, say residents
Special Correspondent
COIMBATORE: Residents of T.N. Chinnaswamy Avenue in Ward 1 of the Coimbatore Corporation say they are going the worst time yet in terms of drinking water supply under the Pilloor scheme for over two months.
The layout is among the many that fall under the North and East zones of the Corporation that are struggling for water.
Official sources say that with the bulk of the city's new regularised layouts located in these zones, the residential colonies have been pushed into a phase of scarcity from that of abundance.
Pilloor scheme
The areas coming under the Pilloor scheme were envied by those in the Siruvani scheme areas because the former enjoyed a sustained allocation of 65 million litres a day throughout the year. But, the monsoon determined the quantity of supply in the Siruvani areas.
But, the residents in Wards 1 and 2 say that water adequacy was a thing of the past. Now, it is a tough struggle.
“Every day, at least 10 women walk to the Corporation's overhead tank near our colony in a desperate search for water,” says secretary of T.N. Chinnaswamy Avenue Welfare Association K. Ramachandran.
Ward 1 councillor K. Chandrasekar says: “It 13 days (till May 4) since we got water supply. When we take this up with the Corporation water supply staff or officials, they cite power shutdown as the reason. Three hours of power cut has a direct effect on the areas where water has to be pumped to from the water tank.”
Ward 2 councillor D. Jothimani too has a similar complaint. “We get water only once in 10 days,” she says. “And, there is no solution to this problem though we have taken it up with the water supply wing of the civic body.”
Mr. Chandrasekar wonders how Avarampalayam gets water once in five days and not Wards 1 and 2 that were not very far away.
Supply time
Mr. Ramachandran says the residents are even more upset with the water supply staff for not informing of the probable supply time.
“The supply is made at 11 p.m. If we know of this in advance, we can stay awake. Otherwise, we will never know of the supply.”
Even in the case of disruption in Pilloor supply because of problems in the supply line such as leaks of bursts, the residents say that they should know when the supply will be restored in their respective layouts after the supply in the main line is restored.
