JNU facing severe water crisis

The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been facing an acute shortage of water supply for six days, with hundreds of students struggling to get enough of it to drink and meet their sanitation needs.

According to the Students Union, the varsity is getting only five units of water now from the Delhi Jal Board, and on some days not even that, as against 24 units it used to get before the crisis.

The varsity administration says the problem is likely to continue for a few days.

The Union led a protest against the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) outside the DJB headquarters on Wednesday and wrote to its Chairman for a quick resolution of the crisis.

According to the Union, the crisis, in part, is a doing of the JNU administration, which has not given permission to build new water storage tanks on the campus.

"There is complete mismanagement of water supply in JNU by the administration. The requirement for new tanks is not being sanctioned or is being delayed.

"(Area) MLA Naresh Yadav promised us funds for the tanks. However, he too expressed his inability to get a 'No Objection Certificate' from the JNU administration," the Union said.

The JNU administration said it was in touch with the DJB.

"The water supply from the Delhi Jal Board has been drastically reduced," the varsity said in a circular.

"The situation is likely to continue for some more days, owing to which the engineering department is able to supply water in the campus at a low pressure in the morning time only, till the water supply is restored to normal feed."

--IANS

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