Water only for toilet & flush, NT complex residents start leaving

Kolkata: Several residents of Sukhobrishti complex's E Block are leaving their homes and temporarily moving elsewhere as the ordeal continued at the New Town complex even after water supply was restored on Thursday, but its usage was limited only to toilet and flushing purposes.More than 300 residents of the complex were down with acute diarrhoea—some of them even hospitalised—over the past three weeks, as families blamed contamination of water in the overhead tanks, which led them to launch a demonstration and approach cops for a solution. NKDA, the custodians of New Town, already found coliform bacteria in the water samples, but till Thursday evening, officials were yet to detect the source of contamination, prompting many residents to take the drastic step.
"My kids are sick and there is no water for practical usage at home. How can we live in a situation like this? Until we get proper water supply and are also assured that the source of contamination is identified and repaired, we are not going back," said Neha Gupta, who left the complex on Thursday to head to her in-laws' place in Assam. Abdul Karim and Ankit Rai also leftwith their families and shifted to relatives' places nearby till the situation improves.Asutosh Kumar, whose two children were also down with diarrhoea and stomach upset, said they will also shift to a hotel or a friend's place by Friday if the situation does not improve by then. "We are rationing water for cleaning and washing purposes but are solely dependent on mineral water jars for consumption and cooking. If the situation does not improve by Friday, I am also leaving," said Kumar.Water supply at the E Block section of the complex was cut off after residents demonstrated against the contaminated water on Monday, and authorities began a cleaning operation of all 141 overhead tanks. By Thursday, around half of the tanks were deep-cleaned, as authorities said it would take them at least three more days to complete cleaning of the rest of the tanks."We were told the water can be used only for toilet and flushing purposes. We were strictly told not to use the water for drinking, cooking, bathing, brushing, and washing utensils until we get a green signal from the facility management. Residents need to get water from water tanks supplied by NKDA and the local panchayat office, which are parked in the common area outside the towers," said Rai, who also left with his family.NKDA officials said the internal storage system of the housing complex, including the pipelines and its internal reservoirs, especially of E Block, was not cleaned and maintained for years. The housing complex authorities need to do regular maintenance work and cleaning of their pipeline system, they added.