Mohali: For the past seven days, taps in hundreds of homes across Vikas Nagar, Kamaon Colony and adjoining areas of Nayagaon have run dry, turning a basic necessity into a daily struggle and forcing residents to spend hundreds of rupees just to secure drinking water.With the regular water supply disrupted due to a non-functional motor pump, families have been scrambling to arrange water for drinking, cooking and other household needs. Many say the crisis has not only disrupted their routines but also placed a heavy burden on already stretched household budgets.“We have been living without regular water supply for a week,” said Amit Kumar, a resident employed with CPDL. “Every day, families are spending Rs 400 to Rs 500 on private water tankers. For many households, especially those with limited incomes, this is becoming unsustainable.”The impact is being felt across the locality, with residents forced to depend on a combination of tanker water and packaged drinking water. Many say they have little faith in tanker water for consumption, leaving them with no option but to purchase bottled water as well.“Water is a basic need, yet we are being forced to buy it,” said Rajat Kumaria, a Punjab government employee. “Apart from tanker charges, residents are spending extra on packaged drinking water. The authorities need to understand the hardship people are facing and restore the supply immediately.”Residents said the prolonged disruption has effectively doubled their expenses, as they are paying both tanker operators and packaged water suppliers to meet daily requirements. Several complained that repeated requests to the authorities have yielded little relief so far.“We cannot keep arranging private tankers indefinitely,” said another resident. “A government water supply system exists for a reason, but for seven days we have been forced to spend hundreds of rupees every day just to access water.”Motor malfunction behind disruptionSDO Raman Brar said the disruption was caused by a malfunctioning motor pump. She said the department was aware of the issue and repair work was underway to restore normal supply at the earliest.Residents, however, have demanded immediate restoration of water supply and urged authorities to find a long-term solution, saying a week-long outage has exposed the vulnerability of essential civic infrastructure.
