Taps run dry for fourth day in Goa

Panaji, June 3 (UNI) Taps in the capital city of Goa have gone dry for the fourth consecutive day today, causing untold miseries to the public at different places.

Although the state is witnessing torrential rains for the past five days with monsoon advancing on Monday last, people do not have water to drink.

For Goa, it is a rare scene to find long queues of people, including women and children, drawing water from PWD tanks.

There was, however, no such arrangement by the PWD authorities who thought they could restore water supply in the morning, but failed.

The trouble arose after pipes got damaged due to landslides caused by heavy downpour at Chimbel, 5 km away from the capital. But it was surprising that the system was not restored even after the repairs.

''We restored supply in a few localities. And we are confident of doing it in the rest of the areas soon,'' an official said.

''We are now thinking of providing storage tanks at all the government quarters in the capital,'' he said.

Hand pumps are very rare in the state. Moreover, no attention had been paid to providing alternative water sources.

Roads dug for laying underground electric cables have added to the miseries.

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