Samdrup Jongkhar faces water woes

Samdrup Jongkhar, May 05, 2009: The residents of the Samdrup Jongkhar have begun to fall ill due to contaminated water either supplied by the government or using local water resources as water supply hits the city.

Of late, the residents have complained about vomiting, headache and stomach ache at the local clinics and hospitals. The number of people visiting health posts with such complaints is continuing as summer approaches.

The municipality has been facing water shortage since 2004 and the government has not taken any steps to improve the situation. The beginning of the construction of Eastern Highway has further disrupted the water supply system.

Municipal officers say water shortage is due to increasing population of the city. People have begun to use motors to pump water from the supplied pipes, however, electricity supply is not regular.

In previous years, the residents were supplied water thrice a day which has now been reduced to once a day.