Image result for Odisha -Deep borewell owners mint money by selling water

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ROURKELA: Thereis a saying: one man’s loss is another man’s gain. If acute shortage of drinking water is a curse for the residents of the city’s largest slum cluster at Gopabandhupali and Timber Colony, then it is a boon for nearly a dozen  unscrupulous well-off slum dwellers owning deep borewells.

 

These deep borewell owners are illegally selling water to each household for `350 to `400 per month by supplying it for  10 minutes. Each of them has 100 to 300 house connections. Households taking water from them arrange their own flexible plastic pipes.
Timber Colony and Gopabandhupali slums under Ward 13 of Rourkela Municipal Corporation (RMC) house around 36 medium and tiny urban hamlets, including Tina Colony, Tingtangbasti, Sunarpatti, Mahavir Chowk Basti, Trinath Colony, Jagannath Colony and Indiranagar. All these areas are facing acute shortage of drinking water in the absence of piped water supply, while depletion of groundwater has rendered a majority of the tubewells defunct.
In fact, deep borewells of about 10 other owners in the area are rendered useless as their facilities have failed to yield water due to the rising heat.

Phulmani Horo, a tribal woman of Anand Chowk, said with no adequate water, she takes bath by using only half a bucket of water. A domestic help, Rita Devi (40) at Budhimaa Sthan, said her husband works as a coolie and both of them have to go to work early thus leaving them no time  to collect water. She said they have to pay `400 every month for water from their meager income.

Jhuli Sahu (35) of Timber Colony, who runs a small shop, echoes similar views. To get water, she doles out `350 every month. Rourkela District Congress Committee president Biren Sahu said that the administration should take steps to provide piped water supply to all slum dwellers.
Incidentally, these unscrupulous deep borewell owners are illegal occupants of government land and they run water pumps on domestic energy connections and are reportedly indulging in power theft right under the nose of the administration.  RMC Commissioner A K Mallick said he has information about the illegal practice of selling of water and asserted that  stern action will be taken against the culprits.

 

 Jhuli Sahu (35) of Timber Colony, who runs a small shop, echoes similar views. To get water, she doles out `350 every month. Rourkela District Congress Committee president Biren Sahu said that the administration should take steps to provide piped water supply to all slum dwellers.

 

 Incidentally, these unscrupulous deep borewell owners are illegal occupants of government land and they run water pumps on domestic energy connections and are reportedly indulging in power theft right under the nose of the administration.  RMC Commissioner A K Mallick said he has information about the illegal practice of selling of water and asserted that  stern action will be taken against the culprits.

Source:http://www.newindianexpress.com/states/odisha/2017/apr/05/deep-borewell-owners-mint-money-by-selling-water-1590094.html