Sunit Dhawan

Rohtak, May 4

A camp was organised at Gohana Stand water-boosting station in old Rohtak town on Friday to redress water-related grievances of residents. The residents of several colonies of the city have been getting contaminated water or have been facing water shortage for nearly a month. Residents' organisations and INDIA bloc leaders had staged a massive protest over the supply of contaminated water and the shortage of water at Rohtak on April 29.The protesters had given the authorities concerned a week's time to redress their grievances. Following that, the district authorities decided to organise special camps in several localities to hear and resolve water-related problems of the residents. The first such camp was organised on Friday. Social activist and CPM leader Dr Jagmati Sangwan, who led the protest on April 29, inspected the camp and interacted with the complainants. Dr Jagmati, who was accompanied by a team of party workers and civil rights activists, facilitated the residents who had come to the camp to air their grievances.

"Residents of different colonies came up with their complaints such as the supply of contaminated water, mixing of sewerage with drinking water, inadequate supply of water and water accumulating in streets due to leakage in pipelines etc. Many of them lamented that no action had been taken on the complaints made by them earlier," she said. Leaflets containing toll-free numbers and steps to be taken to get water-related grievances redressed were distributed among the visitors at the camp. A team of officials from the Department of Public Health and Engineering was present at the camp to assess and resolve the problems of the residents on the spot. Bottles meant for checking the quality of water were also distributed amongst the residents. The next such camp will be organised at Jasbir Colony on May 6.

The CPM leader expressed anguish over the reported supply of contaminated water to several localities in the city for a long time. Terming it as a case of negligence, which involved threat to the lives of the residents, the CPM has demanded a thorough probe, fixing of responsibility and strict action against the officials responsible for the serious lapse. The party also sought a white paper on the rampant corruption in the department.