PONDA: Residents of Savoi Verem are irked at the negligent attitude of the authorities towards the water shortage in their village.
The villagers, who are facing an acute water shortage, are forced to fetch water from a spring almost 500 metres away for their daily requirement. The scorching heat has made it even more difficult for them to spend their days without water
The PWD does send water tankers to some areas, but the villagers have to wait for hours to receive the water, which is also insufficient.
According to Rasika Satarkar, a local, the villagers had submitted a memorandum to government offices to repair a well, which provided consumable water to residents, but the same was ignored.
According to villagers, the wall of the well had collapsed three years ago, due to which they could not fetch water from it. They added that repairs were a must. Three years have passed, but no authority has paid heed to the issue.
The villagers have appealed to Factories and Boilers Minister Deepak Dhavalikar to look into the matter and also to provide them with water regularly through taps, which mostly remain dry in the summer.
Incidentally, parts of Shiroda, Bethora, and Keri in Ponda taluka are also facing a water shortage.
Sources at the OPA water treatment plant said that during summer, as the water level goes down, they work hard to keep the level at the required point.
They further stated that it was not always possible to provide adequate water throughout the day and it was difficult to supply water to hilly areas, due to which water was provided through tankers.
Sources also stated that the problem of people is that they do not have adequate storage tanks, and that the problems being faced by Keri, Savoi Verem and Priol would be solved after the ongoing work of the 25 MLD treatment plant at Ganjem was completed.
Further, a 10 MLD water treatment plant on the Mysal Dam at Shiroda is being constructed and is likely to be completed by the end of the year. Additionally, the 25 MLD treatment plant work was nearing completion and the shortages will be solved once all plants became operational, said sources.
