Gujarat: Tanker travails worst in water-rich Tapi

AHMEDABAD: The disparity in the water supply situation in the state is ironically reflected in the fact that a water-rich district like Tapi, fed by a perennial river, has the highest number of villages receiving water through tankers. Fewer villages in Kutch needed such support as revealed by the department of water resources.

Because of water shortage this year till May 1, in Tapi district 105 villages needed water supply by tankers. In Rajkot district , the chief minister’s home town, water supply by tankers summed up to 391 trips — the highest in the state — for just 31 villages.

Kutch district had the second highest number of villages, 74, that was supplied water through tankers, followed by Valsad in the water-rich south Gujarat where 58 villages were supplied water by tankers.

In all, 561 villages in 62 talukas of Gujarat’s 14 districts suffered water supply crisis till May 1 and were supplied with water by tankers. The numbers are expected to increase.

“Every year after the first rains the government forgets that there had been a water crisis,” says a senior irrigation department official. “Projects for laying new drinking water pipelines are delayed till the next hour of crisis arrives. This is the reason why villages keep suffering,” says the official.

This year till May 1 some 561 villages spread across 62 talukas were supplied drinking water by tankers. Some 361 tankers of which 334 are privately owned, supplied water to the affected villages.