Members of the Residents' Welfare Association (called Sarita Vihar Task Force) had, in a letter to the DDA vice chairman on June 8, pointed out that even after directions were issued by the authorities to look into the water problem, the local DDA officials in-charge of water supply seem ``determined not to do so''. They have also demanded a high-level enquiry to find out why orders passed by him were not implemented by the local staff.

Copies of the letter were also sent to the Lt-Governor, local MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, the DDA chief engineer and superintendent engineer, and the Delhi Police Commissioner.

The task force has said that since the authorities have failed to restore normal water supply as had been demanded in the letter ``the residents of Sarita Vihar have decided to sit on an indefinite dharna which would be followed by a hunger strike in front of the office of the superintendent engineer, circle XV, Sarita Vihar''.

Water in the locality is supplied through overhead tanks by the DDA. For each flat a 500-litre tank has been made available and as per the promise of the DDA at the time of allotment of flats, water was to be supplied for two hours each in the morning and evening. However, residents allege that in the past couple of years water has not been supplied even for an hour which has resulted in the present crisis.

A residential colony under the Self Finance Scheme, Sarita Vihar has over 5,000 flats built by the DDA. At present there are 15 tubewells which cater to the demand of over 25,000 residents of the area.

``When I took possession of my flat in 1990 the water supply was adequate but for the last two years there has been a serious water crisis,'' says Suraj Arora, secretary of the task force, Sarita Vihar.

The task force had written to the Lt-Governor and the DDA vice chairman on many occasions earlier also to draw their attention to the water crisis in the area. Subsequently, directions were issued to the concerned authorities to look into the matter but all in vain.

To cope with the problem residents have installed water tanks on the ground floor and are lifting the water to the overhead tanks with the help of motors. More than 30 per cent of the residents have installed on-line boosters also to augment their water supply. Though installation of water tanks in the ground floor is permitted by the DDA, use of on-line boosters is a clear violation of the norms.

However, residents complain that they had to install on-line boosters since they were left with no other option. ``The pressure of water is very low as a result of which it does not reach the overhead tanks. Our repeated complaints to the local DDA authorities failed to evoke any response from them. Hence, we had to install water tanks and on-line boosters,'' says S.K. Sharma, a resident.

The DDA officials maintain that during summer the water shortage problem is always there and is not confined to Sarita Vihar alone. They say that the installation of on-line boosters has badly affected the water supply. ``We had written letters to the residents using on-line boosters to remove them and had asked the Residents' Welfare Association for its help in the matter,'' says Kamal Singh, assistant engineer looking after water supply.

He adds that tankers have been pressed into service to tide over the current water crisis claiming that with the help of the booster, tanker water is being lifted to the top storeys.

The demand of water in Sarita Vihar is around nine lakh gallons daily against which seven-and-a-half lakh gallons are being supplied, he maintains.