A permit needed for drop of water

Musa Kala, a resident of Salaya, has 21 members in his family. ‘‘For us, the permit is more important than any other document because tap water is available only once in three weeks and that, too, for 15 minutes only,’’ he said. No wonder that resident wait eagerly for the tankers. ‘‘If we miss a tanker, the womenfolk will have to walk miles,’’ said Musa.

It was nagarpalika president Sale Mohammed who came up with the idea of issueing a permit for water.

‘‘The nagarpalika supplies tankers. But, we soon realised that the tankers were not accessible to everyone. Influential people used to walk away with more, while others had to be satisfied with one-two buckets. So, we decided to impose a system for fair distribution of water,’’ he said.

‘‘The system was adopted by local consensus. So far, it is running smoothly,’’ said Jamnagar District Collector T. Natrajan. Salaya resident P. K. Bhatt said: ‘‘Now we don’t have to fight for every bucket of water. With this system in place, no one can grab the quantum reserved for another resident.’’

The residents are happy, and so are the officials. ‘‘The system not only ensures fair distribution, but also prevents loss of water,’’ said D.M. Rathod, chief officer at the nagarpalika. To meet the daily requirement of its 35,000-strong population, the nagarpalika requires at least 17 lakh gallons of water. But, with Siyan dam hitting rockbottom, only 4 lakh gallons is available per day.