For 30 years, 400 Punjab families have survived on tanker water

For nearly 30 years, around 400 families living in Neher Basti along the Dunneke canal in Punjab’s Moga have struggled for every drop of water, surviving on municipal corporation tankers and carrying water from faraway sources to meet their daily needs.

Residents said no government in the last three decades has been able to provide a permanent water supply to the settlement, forcing families to depend on water tankers sent by the municipal corporation. When tankers fail to arrive on time, people travel nearly three kilometres with handcarts to fetch water from a gurudwara or government taps.

In the scorching summer heat, the crisis has worsened. Families said children often leave for school without bathing because there is not enough water at home. Women and other family members also manage without bathing for days due to the severe shortage. Residents said they do not even have enough water to wash clothes.

People living in the settlement said they possess Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards and all other necessary documents, and they participate in every election. Despite this, they continue to suffer because successive governments and political leaders have failed to install permanent water connections in the area.

Residents described how tanker water has become their only lifeline. Some said they wait for days for water tankers to arrive, while others collect drinking water wherever they can find it. Several people said they have spent most of their lives facing the same struggle for water.

One resident said there is “a huge water problem” in the area and people fill water from tankers because there is no other facility available. Another resident said families survive only on tanker water and often wait several days before receiving another supply.

A woman identified herself as Sunita and said people in the locality drink whatever water tanker operators provide because they have no alternative. Another resident said the settlement near the canal has suffered from water scarcity for decades and people continue to bring water in carts from distant places.

Residents said many elderly people in the locality have spent 40 years or more living under the same conditions. They said poor families have silently endured the hardship because “nobody listens to the poor.”

People also pointed to the canal passing beside the settlement and said authorities do not release water into it anymore. They believe water in the canal could provide relief during summer, but at present the canal remains dry.

The residents said they do not want anything except a regular and permanent water supply. Until then, every day in Neher Basti continues to revolve around the struggle for water.