Thirsty Bhopal caught in political crossfire

BHOPAL: On a day when mercury shot up to the season's highest 45.9 degrees, BJP and Congress were still busy passing the buck for the erratic water supply in the city, rather than fixing the problem so that people have enough water to cool themselves off.
Blaming local Congress ministers for aggravating the water crisis, former minister Vishwas Sarang said, "I ensured that Narmada pipelines are laid in the entire area of my constituency.There is no problem in supply of Narmada water, but it's not being done. Ministers, I don't want to name them, are holding meetings with officials to disrupt water supply and create a crisis, where there is none."
Minister for law & public relations P C Sharma, on the other hand, said "We are only trying to help them. We only want them to send at least two tankers of water in all the wards particularly in areas where there is no pipeline for supply of water. Are Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials not aware of the situation in summer when there is less rains but they didn't do anything to avert this situation. It's complete mismanagement of the part of Bhopal Municipal Corporation that has led to this situation. Water crisis in Bhopal, which has four independent sources of water supply is unfortunate," he said.
Even as Congress and BJP spar as to who is responsible for deepening water crisis, Tufail Khan, who has two houses in old city - one in the station area and another in Shahjanaband - said there has not been water supply to either of his houses for three days. This despite the fact that there is Narmada water pipelines in the station area and Shahjanabad could also be supplied water from Kolar if water supply from Upper Lake gets disrupted as is the situation now.
It's not just station area or Shahjanabad but a lot of areas in the Old City, Karond and large areas of Kolar and Katra Hills, facing water crisis due to irregular supply.
Gas Widows' Colony in Karond is one such place where water crisis is perennial and now-a-days, it's at its peak. How women, many of whom living alone and are beyond 80 years of age, arrange water for themselves could well be understood.
Convener, Bhopal Gas Peedit Mahila Udyog Sangthan (BGPMUS), Abdul Jabbar, said, "It depends on the whims and fancies of BMC officials whether the widows' colony receives water supply in two days or three days".
Fareeda, a resident of Kabitpura, said that they were receiving water supply once in two days but fortunately a tubewell was installed in the colony before the election, which is helping them draw water when taps are dry.
BJP MLA from Huzur, Rameshwar Sharma, in whose constituency falls large Kolar area, where people recently staged a road blockage to protest irregular water supply, admitted to water crisis in the area.
"Yes, there is water crisis in not only my area but entire Bhopal. BMC doesn't have funds to fix the problem. The problem lies in distribution network of water. Unless that is out in order, water crisis in Bhopal during summer would never be a past despite the fact that it now has four sources of water supply," he said.
BMC water works in-charge, A R Pawar, however, denied there was any shortage in water supply in any of the city areas. "We are supplying water more than sufficient to cater to population of the city. Then, we are supplying water free-of-cost through 100 tankers to areas where there is no pipeline for supply of water. You tell us the areas, where there is water crisis" he said. But, he had switched off his mobile when efforts were made to talk to him later on.