The Hindu : New Delhi News : Nursing staff quarters `mothball' for want of water

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 29, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Nursing staff quarters `mothball' for want of water

By Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI, DEC. 28. For over an year and a half, the Central Government nursing staff have been struggling to get a roof over their head even though 413 completed houses remain vacant in the Srinivaspuri area without any water and electricity connection.

Spread over 8.5 acres, the housing complex has been constructed for allotment to the nursing staff of Ram Manohar Lohia, Safdurjung, Sucheta Kriplani and Kalawati Saran Children's Hospitals.

Many protests and several letters later, the nurses are now saying that the Central Government should at least allow the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) to give a green signal to dig more bore-wells in the area to allow the 413 houses to have minimum water supply.

"We have long been asking the Government to provide us with accommodation. While they should provide us with houses due to the stressful shift system we follow, we are not ready to shift into houses where even the basic amenities are not available,'' explained the Delhi Nurses' Union general secretary, G.K. Khurana. The nurses are also threatening to go on strike by the end of this month in case the Government fails to respond to their grievances.

"Before starting the building, a no objection certificate was obtained from the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) and officials now need to understand that the nurses in Delhi. Specially in Central Government services, come from all parts of the country and they are very much in need of residential accommodation. This facility have been built for nurses after a long struggle and because of the improper water connection, the building is lying vacant,'' explained the president of the Delhi Nurses Union, S. Takwal.

The construction of the multi-storey residential complex for nurses was undertaken by the Ministry at Srinivaspuri through the Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation, a public sector undertaking, and the scheme for water supply was approved by the DJB in December 1998. But the DJB had indicated that due to the acute water scarcity in the area, it might not be possible for them to provide water connection from the existing system until the Sonia Vihar water treatment plant is commissioned.

The Nurses' Union is now demanding that the CGWA permit more bore wells. "We have requested permission for digging 10 bore wells to feed the 413 flats spread over an area of 8.5 acres. And while permission has been granted for two tube wells with 1H.P. pump capacity each, it will not serve the purpose. We are requesting that permission be granted for digging more bore wells,'' explained Ms. Khurana.

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