A small village of about 1,000 houses with nearly 5,000 registered voters right within the national Capital has been crying for attention towards its water woes.
With water in Ghummenheda village in Matiala being saline and the supply of drinking water to the residents through water tankers being erratic, the village is witnessing a migration of its inhabitants. Over the years, around 40-50 people have been forced to migrate from the village. Alarmingly, the migration, residents pointed out, has picked up, of late. On an average four to five families have been shifting out of the village every year.
However, AAP MlA Gulab Singh, who belongs to the same village, denied that there was any water crisis in the area. “Some people are politicising the drinking water issue. The situation has improved after the AAP Government came to power in Delhi.”
Singh said no villager had so far complained to him about the water problem. “Had any person approached me, I would have ensured that 10 water tankers reach the village every day.” Singh further blamed that BJP was making an issue ahead of the MCD polls in 2017 as all those who are complaining about water are saffron party supporters.
When The Pioneer reporter visited Ghummenheda 40-50 houses in the village was found locked. When enquired, it was revealed that they have migrated to other places due to scarcity of water in the area. Choudhury Pramod Kumar, 45, who left the village, last year said he had shifted to Najafgarh due to scarcity of water in the village. “You can survive with one time meal but cannot live without potable water.” Echoing the same sentiment, Master Surat Singh, 65, left the village due to water scarcity.
Singh has also shifted to Najafgarh. Malkhan Singh, a 65-year-old resident of Ghummenheda, said water is provided to the area only once in 7 or 8 days. “There has been no supply of water for the past seven days in the area.”
Villagers said though each household has been provided with piped water connection in the village, a large number of villagers have been battling in the simmering heat to receive regular supply of drinking water. “Only those houses on the frontal side of the village are lucky one to receive piped drinking water on a regular basis. The one’s living in the middle and at the tail end of the village have reportedly not been receiving regular supply of drinking water for about a decade,” said Choudhury Surinder Kumar, a resident of Ghummenheda village.
A 45-year-old Tilak Raj Sharma said he had also shifted his house from back side to the frontal row of the village. “The water supply is not available to those having houses in the middle of the village. Earlier, the DJB used to supply tanker every day. Now, tanker comes just once a week.”
The drinking water to the village is supplied from the nearby DDA’s Command Tank and Daulatpur reservoir, whose total capacity is two million gallons a day. But the water supplied by the two just reached only those households who are at the frontal side of the village. The one’s living at the tail end of the village don’t even remember when they had received regular supply of water during the daylight.
An elderly woman said each household has excess of desi ghee, but not a single glass of drinking water to serve any of their visitors. A majority of the villagers have been using bore-well water for cleaning and washing their utensils and clothes. The same hard water is used by these villagers for bathing purpose. Only a few well-to-do families have got their private pipelines fixed to get drinking water at their households. “I had to lay 1,000 metre pipeline at my own cost to get piped water at my house,” Choudhury Mahender Singh told The Pioneer.
Choudhury Surender Kumar further said people of the village have been crying for water for the last 10 years and the situation has been worsening with each passing day. “At least 40-50 families have migrated from this village in the past several year… In the coming days, some more families may migrate in near future. On an average, four to five families migrate every year from this village. Some villagers have even moved from middle of the village to frontal row to get water supply.”
Admitting that Ghummenheda area has been facing acute shortage of water, Delhi Jal Board CEO Keshav Chandra said the village is located on the tail end of the distribution network and a new pipeline is being laid to address the pressing problem. “This will take some time. The DJB has been trying to ensure supply through Daulatpur reservoir and command tank.”
On the other hand, Rajendra Yadav, secretary of Ghummenheda Gram Vikas Mandal said that he had written to DJB officials but they have not even acknowledged their problem. “Villagers have started migration from here. The sad part is the problem is persisted for the past 10 years but situation has worsened. The sad part is that nothing has happened,” said Yadav, adding that DJB officials also do not pick up their phone.
The DJB estimated the Capital’s peak water demand around 1,040 million gallons per day (MGD) with an installed capacity for water supply at a maximum of 890 MGD.