Private tankers fleecing residents

GURGAON: Long hours of power cuts have severely affected the water supply in Gurgaon. In the absence of adequate supply, residents have to increasingly depend on private suppliers of water tankers who are cashing in on the situation. They are allegedly charging the hapless residents Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 per tanker, which are usually sold at Rs 300. Some of the worst affected areas include DLF City, Sushant Lok, Sector 56 and 57.Spread over 2,360 acres and with a population of over three lakh, DLF City requires a minimum of 15 MGD water daily.
But currently, it is getting a supply of only 3.5 MGD. The colony has over 700 residents. The developer has about five water tankers which supply a maximum of 1.25 lakh litres of water per day.
The residents of other colonies are entirely dependent on water tankers. Sameer Kochhar, a resident of Sushant Lok I, Block A, said that he has to often forgo work to make arrangements for water supply. Power cuts are the main reason behind the crisis. Even a tanker,which usually gets filled in 40 minutes, takes over an hour to be filled up when power is supplied by a generator.
A private tanker supplier, Amar Singh, said that they are not fleecing customers. “We have about a dozen-odd tankers. The cost of running a tanker has gone up because of the increase in fuel prices. Moreover, to fill each tanker, a lot of power is consumed and it takes over an hour.”
HUDA has,meanwhile, expressed its helplessness. Naresh Pawar, executive engineer, HUDA, said that the problem has augmented because of the frequent power cuts and voltage fluctuations. He claimed that the department is trying its best to augment water supply. “We have asked the irrigation department for an additional supply of at least 40 cusecs of untreated water to the Basai plant which is currently getting 70 cusecs through the Gurgaon Water Supply Canal (GWSC).”