Jaipur: Taps started running dry in most parts of the city on Monday morning after the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) failed to supply drinking water due to technical glitch at the Balawala pumping station.The abrupt disruption affected nearly 70% residents, especially those living in walled city and plotted houses and depending on stored water.According to the PHED official, " Water supply was disrupted as short-circuit in the transformer of the pump station occurred at 3am. The problem was resolved in the afternoon and supply was restored in the evening."It was informed, nearly 450 million litres per day (MLD) of Bisalpur water from Balawala station is transferred to Jawahar Circle, Ramniwas Bagh, Central Park and Amanishah Nullah sub-stations. The walled city remained adversely affected as all six supply stations did not receive water.Many residents were irked as PHED officials did not attend their calls or respond to the queries. Rajiv Mathur, who receives supply from north division said, "Despite several calls, the officials never replied. There was no storage and in absence of water supply the daily household works were affected."People living in walled city expressed more helplessness, where majority of them depend on direct supply. "As there was no alternate arrangement, we had no choice other than to wait. For emergency situations, the PHED should have back-up plans prepared."Sources in the department said the PHED spends Rs 14 crore on annual maintenance of Bisalpur pipe. However, in past 11 months the water supply has been interrupted more than seven times. "The maintenance of Balawala head-work is done by a private firm. We would seek a reply from the firm in this regard," said a senior official source.As city depends mostly on Bisalpur water, the disruption in supply caused huge inconvenience to the residents. "There has been 506 (MLD) supplied to the city every day. To assure proper supply in morning and evening, the major pump houses are duly maintained. On Monday, water was supplied to the residents after transferring it to sub-stations."Many however, alleged that supply in the evening was 3 hours late as transferring of water took time.

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