10 months on, power supply to waterworks yet to be restored
Raj Sadosh
Abohar, August 7
Though the previous state government had announced to provide free power to rural water supply works in October 2021, residents of Tutwala village continue to suffer as electricity supply has not been restored for the past 10 months.
Villagers rued that electricity connection of the old water works was disconnected due to non-payment of bills. They said they had been paying water charges to the panchayat, but the same were not used to clear the bills.
Penalty not paid by panchayat
The Tutwala panchayat has not paid a penalty of Rs 1.98 lakh, which was imposed by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited flying squad last year. —Ratanjot Singh Dhillon, SDO, Water supply and sanitation department
Balkar Singh, husband of Sarpanch Gurdeep Kaur, said, “Efforts are on to restore water supply. We have written to the authorities concerned.” He blamed the previous gram panchayat for the mess and agreed that the groundwater was unfit for human consumption.
Water Supply and Sanitation Department SDO Ratanjot Singh Dhillon said the village panchayat had not paid a penalty of Rs 1.98 lakh, which was imposed by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) flying squad last year. The PSPCL had detected some error in the electricity meter, due to which the supply had not been restored, he said, adding that there was no provision of waiving the penalty.
Simran Preet Kaur and Laxmi Bai, who were going to fetch water, said construction of new waterworks was going on at a slow pace and tanker owner charged Rs 800 per tank.
“Now, we have to pay much more to get water supplied through tankers. Some families collect canal water and purify the same by using alum,” said villagers. Jatinder Singh, who is supervising construction of new tank, said, “Construction of the main water tank has been completed. Work on reservoir is underway.”
