Residents continue to pay for private tankers in Aurangabad

AURANGABAD: Even as the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) continues to supply water once in five to seven days, the residents are forced to spend at least Rs 500 a week to purchase water to meet their needs.
As of Sunday, Jayakwadi dam which supplies water to the city, had a live storage of 100%. However, the residents are yet to receive water on a daily basis.
According to Jagriti Mankame, a Gulmohar Colony resident, the water supply of 75 minutes in five days only suffices the drinking water requirements. “If we want to clean our house for any festival or wash clothes, a private water tanker has to be called. The vendor charges Rs 400 to Rs 500 for 1,500 litres of water,” she said.
Residents are forced to call for a tanker almost every week, increasing their monthly expenditure on water between Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,000, in addition to the Rs 4,400 annual water tax that is being charged by the civic body.
When asked, the water supply department of the AMC said that the due to the deteriorating infrastructure, it is difficult to increase water supply. Executive engineer Hemant Kolhe said that the supply can only be normalised after the new water supply system is put in place. Though the tender for citywide water supply scheme has been issued, the residents are unlikely to benefit from it before a period of two years. Therefore, a demand for tax revision is being raised by residents.
In a signature campaign initiated by Shahar Parivartan Aghadi, more than 2,000 people from across the city have signed a memorandum seeking reduction in the annual water tax from Rs 4,400 to Rs 1,800.
“At present, the AMC is supplying water on only 50-60 days in a year and charging Rs 4,400 towards water tax which is unreasonable. Access to clean water is our right and it is responsibility of the civic body to ensure that it is not commercialised but supplied for free of cost or at a reasonable rate,” said Rahul Ingle of Shahar Parivartan Aghadi said. A memorandum for the same will be presented to the civic body soon so as to press for the demand, he added.