Jaipur Water Supply Crisis Deepens as Tanker Owners Strike
Jaipur: The water supply crisis in Jaipur deepened on Tuesday evening after tanker owners outsourced by the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) went on strike. This comes a day before PHED contractors are scheduled to stop work from Wednesday morning. The disruption has severely impacted several last-mile localities that heavily depend on tanker deliveries, including Jhotwara, Kho Nagoriya, and parts of Vidhyadhar Nagar, Jagatpura, Mansarovar, and Pratap Nagar.
A PHED engineer stated, "These last mile areas of the city mostly depend on tanker water. As the tanker owners decided to go on a strike on Tuesday itself, we could supply water in the evening. The problems are set to multiply once the contractors start their agitation Wednesday morning." Department sources revealed that the tanker strike has caused serious concern within PHED because the department had planned to use tanker services to manage supply during the contractors' agitation. Chief engineer (Quality Control) Praveen Ankodia had issued a notification on Tuesday afternoon outlining how tankers should be deployed through the protest period.
A senior PHED official commented, "To cope with the agitation, we were relying a lot on these tanker services. Now we are left with no other options. The only solution to this problem is to withdraw the agitation." Manoj Sharma, president of the Jaipur-based PHED outsourced tanker association, stated that they have dues of Rs 5 crores for the last 17 months in Jaipur. "The state govt promised us in the evening to clear the dues by next Monday. We will take a decision Wednesday morning whether to withdraw the strike till Monday or continue with it," he said.
The strike has also raised fears of a sharp rise in tanker water prices and possible black marketing from Wednesday. A 4,000-litre tanker currently costs around Rs 500 in Jaipur, though rates vary by locality and demand. Tanker operators warned that prolonged disruption could push prices sharply higher. Mukesh Saini, owner of a private tanker, stated, "The biggest challenge would be to meet the growing demand. Even with a high price, we won’t be able to cater to the additional demand. The problem is that ground water level in Jaipur is quite low and it takes a long time to fill up the tankers."
Residents are urged to stay updated with the latest Jaipur news via the TOI App. The situation remains critical as authorities scramble to find solutions.
