Velu follows a strict exercise regimen. He wakes up early every day and follows it conscientiously. It is neither jogging nor walking. It’s not working out at the gym either. His workouts include a hand pump, which he is forced to use as his house has not been getting Metro water for some weeks now. A resident of Vedagiri Street in Chintadripet, Velu says his sump has been dry for many days now.
“The water has not fallen into sumps for days. A little water is available every alternate day in the hand pump. I wake up to pump water at 6 a.m. We need to store some for the next day,” he says.
Complaints to the Metro water department have been in vain. “They say the pressure is low and that we might have to deal with the problem till the monsoon hits the city,” adds Velu.
The bore water has also depleted considerably.
“I have a bore which might have one feet of water. As Metro Rail work is going on near my house, I need to take permission from CMRL to dig deeper. Then again, I might not get any water at all,” he adds.
Many residents in the neighbourhood are dependent on supply of water by lorries.
“We get water only ten days after we place an order. That too, after repeated calls,” says another resident. Varalakshmi, who lives on the same street, says she doesn’t even get water every alternate day.
“I don’t have a sump due to space constraint. We have been using the pump. Every hour I go and check. Last week we didn’t get a drop of water for three days. We have been storing water in drums,” she says.
