As Tiswadi and Ponda continues to reel under a water crisis for a week, Union Minister of State for AYUSH & Minister of State for Defence Shripad Naik has pointed at possible negligence in maintaining the age-old pipeline that supplies water to these two talukas.   

“It is a pipeline of many years. It might be the negligence on the part of authorities on the maintenance,” he said while reacting to the prevailing situation. 

Several thousand families have been affected as the pipeline that brings water to the two talukas from Opa Water Works burst on August 15. Until the sixth day on Tuesday, the water crisis continued with water tankers unable to reach many places. The bottled drinking water of up to 20 litres have been also running short across all the stores. 

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has also slammed the government for forcing people to live in hardship owing to water crisis. The party has warned the government to launch a protest on the streets if water supply to the two talukas do not resume by Wednesday. “We will march till Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s residence if water supply does not resume by Wednesday. The government should have put into use ESMA and the disaster management cell should have been pressed to service,” said AAP leader Valmiki Naik on Tuesday.