Forced to choose between jobs & water, East Nagpur residents boil over

Nagpur: Grappling with an acute water crisis, residents across several parts of East Nagpur are caught in a daily dilemma — earn a livelihood or stay home to fetch water. Areas in Prabhag 25, including Pardi, Navin Nagar, Bhandewadi, Punapur, Shyam Nagar, Ram Mandir area, Paramatma Ek Nagari, Bholeshwar Society, Bhagwan Society, and Karni Mata Society are among the worst affected."Should we go to work and earn for our families or stay home waiting for water?" asked a resident from Punapur.According to officials, residents receive water for one to one-and-a-half hours. With rising population pressure, the water works department has introduced shift-wise distribution, leaving several areas dependent on supply during afternoon working hours.Locals, however, alleged that the water supply is highly erratic, often starting around 3.30pm for only a few minutes—far too little to meet daily needs during peak summer. Low pressure has worsened the situation, compelling women to stand in the scorching heat to fill buckets and storage drums. Elderly citizens and children are among the worst affected.Residents said the supply in many households is so low that even minimum storage requirements remain unmet. Anger is mounting against the Nagpur Municipal Corporation's water works department, with citizens questioning how working families are expected to cope under such conditions.With temperatures soaring and frustration intensifying, residents have warned of a major agitation if immediate steps are not taken to restore regular and adequate water supply in the affected areas.BJP corporator Deepak Wadibhasme admitted that irregular supply timings have become a major concern and blamed the crisis on excessive dependence on a single overhead tank catering to the densely populated locality. He alleged that the water works department has "miserably failed" to operationalise two elevated storage reservoirs that are ready, claiming the situation could improve significantly once they are commissioned.TOI tried contacting superintending engineer Shweta Banerjee and executive engineer Shrikant Waikar, but there was no response.Residents also accused the civic administration of neglecting essential services while spending heavily on beautification and heat-mitigation projects. They questioned why densely populated neighbourhoods continue to struggle for drinking water despite repeated assurances of infrastructure upgrades.The crisis has once again drawn attention to Nagpur's long-promised 24x7 water supply project announced over a decade ago. Fourteen years later, residents say many localities still lack reliable daily supply.Citizens alleged that repeated complaints have failed to prompt concrete action, with officials and public representatives often asking residents to "adjust" instead of addressing the problem.