Bottlers, tankers halt water supply

Valley requires 350m litres of water daily, while daily supply by KUKL during dry and wet seasons stands at 80m and 150m litres Water suppliers -bottlers and tankers -have been on a strike since the last three days and Kathmandu valley -Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur districts -has started facing acute water shortage. They have threatened to intensify the protest but the government is silent on the issue. “We have been block “We have been blocking water supply in Kathmandu valley since Thursday. There is no bottled water and tanker supply,“ said coordinator of the agitation committee Bishnu Dahal. “But the government has not contacted us to resolve the problem.“ About half of the three million population of Kathmandu valley has been affected due to the water shortage. Four groups -Tanker Entrepreneurs' Association, Nepal Bottled Water Entrepre neurs' Association, Drinking Water Tanker and Boring Entrepreneurs' Association, and Nepal Transport Workers' Association -had submitted a 20-point demand to the Ministry of Urban Development in early May. The group had stopped water supply for three days in late May also. The group has demanded to exclude drinking water from value added tax net, open licence to supply drinking water from any source, and compensation from the government for any damage caused during strikes or bandhs. “We are ready to solve our problems through talks but the state has been ignoring us,“ Dahal said, adding that their strike will not stop unless their demands are met. Water suppliers have resorted to the strike because the government has ignored our demands, said president of Nepal Bottled Water Entrepreneurs' As sociation Dharma Nan sociation Dharma Nanda Shrestha. “We are ready to halt the strike once the government calls us for talks,“ he said. The Department of Commerce and Supply Management has not given priority to the issue, Shrestha added. The valley requires 350 million litres of water daily, while the daily supply by Kathmandu Upatyaka Khanepani Limited (KUKL) during the dry and the wet season stands at 80 million litres and 150 million litres, respectively. Private suppliers have vate suppliers have been filling the supply gap of over 150 million litres. Of the 700 water tanker operators in the valley, only 362 of them have obtained permission from the concerned authorities to supply drinking water. The 362 registered tanker operators include 56 water suppliers, 35 institutions, 60 apartment builders, 35 industries, 15 hospitals, 40 hotels and entrepreneurs, and 75 belong to KUKL, among others.