CHENNAI: Sangeetha M lives with her husband, two children, mother and aunt in a 300-sqft house at a slum tenement in Annai Sathya Nagar at Anna Nagar. But, more than half her house is cluttered with pots, jugs, drums and buckets filled with water to the brim. Water is such a valuable commodity that sometimes if there is no space, the family opts to sleep near the veranda rather than keeping water drums outside.
“Only in the mornings we keep the vessels with water outside. Before we go to sleep, we either lock the drums inside the house or the bathroom. We safeguard water more than jewels nowadays,” says Sangeetha, a resident of the area for the past 24 years.
Desperate measures
Caught between Metro Water tanker that provides water — though insufficient — on alternate days, and hand-pumps — an unreliable source that provides foul-smelling water — residents give up space, time and even employment to quench their thirst. And in some cases, even trust between residents blur as some steal water cans while filling water from tankers.
Instances such as these indicate the levels of desperation among Chennaiites.
Annai Sathya Nagar houses close to 10,000 families, which are dependent on water from Metro Water tankers and hand-pumps as there is no borewell facility. Some buy packaged water cans for drinking purposes when water from the other two sources is not enough.
Express visited the locality, and was met with similar stories. D Sathya lives with a family of five on 4th street. Even before entering her house, a row of plastic tubs and cans brimming with yellowish water snake through the passage, making it a challenge to walk. “In my family, there is only one child and the rest are adults. So all of us require at least four buckets of water every day. When the tankers come in the evening, we manage to get 15-20 buckets of water. Sometimes we have to fill extra cans as we need to store for the next day as well. Hence, we hardly have any space to stretch our legs and sleep,” said Sathya.
Tax and tanker troubles
The hand-pumps installed by the Chennai Corporation outside every house in 1st to 4th streets haven’t been functioning for the past five years and stand as mere spectators to the residents’ mounting troubles. A common hand-pump installed in the junction of two streets is the only source of water on days when water tankers don’t come. But, locals said that water flows from these pumps only for four hours, and that is also contaminated with sewage. “Water from one tanker is hardly enough for residents living in two streets. We get only two buckets of water or even lesser from the pumps. Because of this, we pay for water cans despite paying water tax. We have complained to a number of authorities, but people like us who live in slums get no importance or solutions from them,” said Pandurangan S.
Ironically, a Metro Water filling station is located on New Avadi Road only a kilometre away from Annai Sathya Nagar. Residents pay Rs 1,000-Rs 3,000 once in six months towards water tax without reaping the benefits. After the hike in property tax, people who were paying Rs 300-Rs 500 for water tax shell out more than double, but still scramble for drinking water.
“We used to pay Rs 330 a year ago and now we pay Rs 1,700 just for water and sewerage connection. Many women lost their jobs as they were repeatedly late or used to miss work to fetch water from tankers. So it becomes almost impossible to pay such heavy taxes with only one working member in the family,” said Tamilselvi J.