Opposition councillor Prem Mittal said: “We receive hundreds of complaints everyday by the residents about power shortage. Many a times, these turn ugly with exchange of heated arguments. The corporation authorities are, however, not paying any heed. The proposal for new tube wells was passed in March this year but the work orders have not been issued as yet. Installing new tube well costs around Rs 7 lakh and a fresh bore around Rs 11 lakh. Unfortunately, the authorities are not able to decide whether to give the work to the sewerage board or carry it out on their own.”

Interestingly, as per the MC’s promise, a fault in a tube well, especially in the motor, needs to be repaired within 24 hours. Most of the time, however, the process takes more than a week, thus leading to further water shortage.

A number of area councillors had also asked for new tube wells for their wards, the files of which are eating dust for final approval. Senior deputy mayor Parveen Bansal, however, had stated they were making their efforts to save water and have suspended the allotment of any new tube well for the moment. One of the efforts include cutting down water supply by two hours: a fact that only adds to the woes of the residents. But Bansal maintains the residents will learn to save power this way.