Acute water shortage affected thousands of pilgrims at Nilackal pilgrim transit facility for four hours from 6 am on Sunday. Lack of water supply in the pipeline system at Nilackal parking area, on the side of interior roads and at the toilet complexes caused hardships for pilgrims.
The water storage tanks were adequate in number but the problems started when the maramath employees failed to operate the pump sets to fill the water storage tanks. Lack of preparedness on the part of the department should be blamed for the problem.
The closure of majority of toilets, due to water, caused troubles for the pilgrims in the morning. The contractor who was assigned with the task of transporting water through tanker lories failed to do the task due to an issue in connection with the term of the contract.
With the intervention of government coordination, the situation turned normal. But with the increased inflow of pilgrims in the coming days, the situation is bound to become worse if the authorities fail to act in time