Gobar Times reporters find DANGEROUSLY HIGH LEVELS OF FLUORIDE while testing water within the walled city of Jaipur

When we talk about our daily problems many things come to mind - traffic jams, money problems and WATER! Oh! Is it a daily problem? We get pure and safe water 24 hours through our aquaguards and filters. But have we ever thought of the people who are working inside the walled city to make Jaipur a heritage city.

There are many areas like Thatheron ka Rasta inside the walled city where about 5000 brilliant craftspersons are facing such water problems that they are not able to concentrate on their work. They get water for about 2-3 hours a day. Purity in water is also another minus area. "Water here is contaminated and has a bad odour", says Atmaram who runs a halwai shop in this street. He has no other option than using this impure water for making sweets. Sixty-eight-year-old Dalchand Tinker, a local resident says, "Water supply and drainage was very well maintained about 40 years ago." There are only two hand pumps in this area and only one is working.

Dr Radhu Krishan Bharadwaj, the only doctor available in the area says 10 out of 100 patients are affected by water-related diseases like decay of teeth, swelling in gums, jaundice and several other liver diseases. "There is excess of flouride in t he water", he says. "We have complained to JMC and go there about four times a month but no action has been taken," says Govind Patel, belonging to the Thathera family.

The average requirement for a person is about 25 litres each day. In a family of 70 people, a 55-year-old lady named Parmeswari Devi, is one of the family who takes about 20 rounds to fetch water from a hand pump.

Hitesh Sain

Priyanka Maheshwari

WATER FIGHTS According to people living in Jaipur each family needs minimum 25 litres of water per day. To meet the huge demands of water Jaipur is even planning to bring water from distant places. Less water means there is a fight for water. The rich and powerful people get more water. During our walk we met a family, most members of which has to go at least 20 times for the water as the hand pump in front of their house is not working. Rounak Agarwal