Half of Agara without water for two days

With mercury soaring past 45 degrees Celsius and river Yamuna going dry, residents of the Taj city continued to face annual water woes, with supply to half the city still not resumed on Thursday.

Queues at the hand pumps continued to lengthen as municipal authorities failed to resume water supply.

"It is now more than 50 hours we have not had a drop of water in the taps in areas fed by Sanjay Place pumping station. The main pipeline from the Sikandra Water Works is damaged. No one knows how much time they would take to repair the leak," said an angry Heera Lal, resident of Peer Kalyani.

Municipal officials said Agra Water Works engineers have been working to repair the leaked pipeline under the Gurudwara flyover.

The city has two water works, one at Jeoni Mandi, which is more than a century old and the other at Sikandra which is just 20 years old and uses an Israeli technique to clean water. The pipeline from this Water Works needs extensive repairs. "Till then citizens will need to look for alternative sources," a corporator said.

With nine MLAs, two MPs, and the Mayor, the Bhartiya Janata Party has come under heavy fire from thirsty citizens. The only hope is the Rs 3,000 crore Gangajal pipeline project which could become functional after the monsoon rains.

"They had promised Agra would become the best city in India, our experience is that it has gone from bad to worse," said social activist Shravan Kumar Singh.

--IANS

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