The Hindu : New Delhi News : No drinking water at NDMC headquarters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 03, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

No drinking water at NDMC headquarters

By Sandeep Joshi

NEW DELHI, NOV. 2. For over a week now, hundreds of employees working at Palika Kendra -- the headquarters of New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) -- are being forced to consume raw drinking water as the internal pipeline of the building that supplied treated water has been damaged. Fearing an outbreak of water-borne diseases, the employees have now started bringing their own water bottles from home and some are even buying bottled water from nearby markets.

"For over a week now we have not been getting drinking water supply and we have no choice but to drink water that comes in the bathroom taps or buy bottled water from outside. Whenever a pipeline is damaged, the restoration work is carried on war footing, but here the officials are taking it easy. The pipeline replacement work is going on at snail's pace and we might have to wait for another week before normal supply is restored. Interestingly, the agency that supplies water to Lutyens' Delhi is unable to ensure that its own employees get pure drinking water," said an angry MDMC employee. The NDMC has constructed two huge underground tanks from where water is supplied to the entire building. Water of one of the underground tank is treated with chemicals and made potable to be supplied to overhead tank from where it is distributed to the entire building. And water from the other underground water tank is supplied to toilets and for other use. So after the supply of potable water was stopped, the employees have no choice but to drink raw water.

"The water pipeline between the 11th and 15th storey of the building has corroded due to which the supply in the building has been affected. These are old pipelines that are being replaced. As it is difficult to work during the day, the repair work is done only during evening hours. This is causing delay. The repair work is likely to take a few more days to be completed," said the NDMC spokesperson.

However, he claimed that there was no drinking water crisis in the building as employees were getting supply from the pantry room. But ironically the fact is that there is only one pantry room that is catering to the needs of hundreds of employees and visitors who come to the building daily.

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